The daughter of William Ivo and Dora Blandford Thompson, Mary Phoebe was born October 1, 1897, in West Louisville, Ky., where she attended the little country school. Later she attended St. Frances Academy in Owensboro and received her high schooling at Mount Saint Joseph Academy. Following her graduation, Mary Phoebe entered the novitiate and after an eight‑month postulancy, she received the Ursuline habit on March 25, 1916, and the name Sister Theodore.
Prepared for the teaching apostolate, Sister Theodore’s first assignment took her to St. Anthony School in Jeffersonville, Ind., where she taught four years. She was then missioned to the Ursuline schools in Nebraska where she served as teacher and principal for eight years. Sister Theodore taught in various parochial schools within the Owensboro Diocese and spent eight years teaching in Louisville and was principal also. She was a teacher of the upper grades and her final mission was Precious Blood School in Owensboro.
Sister Theodore returned to Mount Saint Joseph in 1971 after teaching 44 years. Her three Ursuline blood sisters were in retirement also and they were able to spend much time together. Sister Mary Vincent died in 1977 and in 1982, Sister Theodore breathed her last on August 9. Her funeral Mass was concelebrated by Father Anthony Ziegler and Father Bernard Barnes, MSJ chaplain, who was also the homilist. Sister Theodore was then buried in the convent cemetery. Among her survivors were her two Ursuline sisters, Sister Geraldine and Sister Mary Ivo.