One of the seven children of Charles and Mary Ellen French Brady, Anna was born March 21, 1898, in Waverly, Ky. She attended public school in Waverly until St. Peter School opened there in 1910, and she was taught by the Ursuline Sisters. Following the early death of Anna’s parents, the three girls were taken by their maternal grandfather, John French, who said he’d see to it they were not separated nor sent to an orphanage. After his death, Anna, Genevieve, and Clara went to Mount Saint Joseph Academy. Anna was 15 at that time. Four years later she entered the novitiate from the tenth grade. Following a four‑month postulancy she received the Ursuline habit on May 2, 1917, and the name Sister Sebastian.
Within a short time Sister Sebastian was sent to Holy Cross (Ky.) School to begin her teaching apostolate. Throughout her many years of educating students she was assigned to both public and parochial schools in the various towns of Kentucky. Other assignments took her to parochial schools in Wynot, Nebraska City, Plattsmouth, and Paul in Nebraska; and to Glennonville, Mo. In a period of 53 years, Sister Sebastian had taught each of the eight grades at primary and intermediate levels.
Retired from teaching Sister Sebastian returned to Mount Saint Joseph in December 1970. She’d had a heart attack in 1963, and in 1972, she suffered another heart attack and a stroke which paralyzed her speech. Death came to her on July 24, 1972. Two days later her funeral Mass was offered by Father Francis Howard, pastor of St. Raphael Church, who also delivered the homily. Sister Sebastian was then buried in the convent cemetery. Among her survivors was her Ursuline sister, Sister Pierre.