Born October 5, 1909, in Knottsville, Ky., Eileen was the daughter of Severius and Maude Bowlds Bowlds. She was quite young when the family moved to Rome, Ky., where her father farmed. After finishing grade school, Eileen worked at home and often considered being a sister. She entered the novitiate at Mount Saint Joseph in January 1927, and on August 15, 1927, received the Ursuline habit and the name Sister Severia.
Sister Severia began her apostolate of housekeeping at St. Columba Convent in Louisville. She spent two years at Sacred Heart Academy in Waterflow, N.M., doing the laundry, cooking, and keeping house for the Sisters and about 20 boarders. Sister Severia delighted in gathering and canning the abundance of vegetables and fruits, and cooked overgrown white radishes which she called “delicious turnips” when she served them in July. She was later assigned to St. Joseph Convent in Owensboro, and still later, to St. Catherine Convent in New Haven, Ky. Sister continued to serve the sisters at St. Catherine until she was too weak to pump water from the outdoor cistern.
Having cancer and suffering intensely from pain and weakness, Sister Severia was hospitalized at St. Joseph Infirmary in Louisville for several weeks and died on April 6, 1938. Her remains, accompanied by Sister Mary Joseph Peterson, reached Mount Saint Joseph on April 7. On April 8, Father Andrew Zoeller, chaplain, and three other priests concelebrated the funeral Mass. In the homily, Father Zoeller summed up Sister Severia’s life as a religious, “She followed the simple life, just as Our Blessed Lady did, and did the simple daily duties well, always trying to become more and more like Our Lady in her humble service.” Heavy rain fell before and during the Mass, but ceased entirely during the procession to and from the convent cemetery where the burial service was celebrated.