A little girl, with beautiful blue eyes and red hair, was born on April 15, 1915, to Robert and Margaret Hite of Owensboro, Ky. They named her Mary Frances. She was the sixth of eight children which included Edward, who became Franciscan Brother Benedict, Buelah Mae, Walter, who died of flu as an infant, William Irvin, Margaret, and Mary Robert, who died of diphtheria at age 3. The family lived at the corner of St. Elizabeth and Third streets. Mr. Hite worked at the Ames Factory making and painting the famous buggies.
During the 1918 flu epidemic, he died, leaving his wife Margaret with eight children under age 12. To support her children, she got a job as a saleswoman, took in washing, sold their home in Owensboro and· moved to Browns Valley, buying a farm to rent for shares. The family lived in the main farmhouse, raising chickens, vegetables, fruit trees, and a cow.
Seven years after the death of her husband, Mrs. Hite married Joseph Wilberding, a man who had come to Browns Valley to build a large, ornate grotto at St. Anthony Church. He also built the Our Lady of Prompt Succor shrine at Mount Saint Joseph and designed and executed the artwork in St. Stephen Cathedral. After Mary Frances finished fifth grade, the family moved to Norwood, Ohio, to live in an apartment building owned by her stepfather. She attended St. Elizabeth School staffed by the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati. She attended high school in Norwood but quit school and got a job. She would later get her high school diploma from Mount Saint Joseph Academy, and eventually earned a bachelor’s degree in Education from Brescia College, and a Professional Catechist Certificate from the Archdiocese of Louisville.
At the age of 19, she entered the novitiate where Sister Rosalia Knott was her aunt. She received the habit and the name Sister Theresa Margaret in 1935. While she was a novice, she was assigned for a couple of months as housekeeper at Curdsville, Ky. In the first 10 years of her mission life she was housekeeper at Glennonville, Mo., at Nebraska City and Paul, Neb., and at Mayfield, Flaherty and Calvary, Ky. Sister Theresa Margaret’s first teaching assignment was at Rosary School in Paducah, Ky., later teaching at Blessed Mother in Owensboro, and in New Haven, Loretto, St. Francis, Fredericktown and Radcliff, Ky. She was an excellent teacher, especially in math and art (she was an exceptional artist). She was widely known for her ability to convince each student of their personal importance and ability to succeed. No one would ever have known that Sister Theresa Margaret had health issues. She was blind in one eye, and had severe back pain from childhood, but never complained. As she began winding down toward retirement, she spent nine years as the librarian and tutor at St. Paul, Leitchfield, Ky., and taught after-school art lessons to many eager students.
Finally, after 57 years of ministry, she retired in 1994, came to the Motherhouse and brought her many skills along. She created displays and large posters for the museum, decorated birthday tables, designed and painted large handmade “Thank You” scrolls for benefactors, and greeting cards for all occasions. She was the only one among us who did quilling. She was interested in genealogy, music and multiple kinds of crafts. Most of all, however, Sister Theresa Margaret was a prayerful woman. By her living and her loving she taught us how important it is for us to fill ourselves with the love of God, so it will flow over into the lives of others.
Early in the morning of May 3, 2009, after weeks of intense suffering, Sister Theresa Margaret died in Saint Joseph Villa to find joy forever in the beauty of Heaven. The wake service was held in the Motherhouse chapel, Wednesday evening, May 4 at 6:30. On Thursday, May 7, Father Dave Glockner and Father Tom Kirkendoll officiated at the funeral Mass. The Ursuline Sisters, friends, and relatives accompanied Sister’s remains to the convent cemetery for burial. She was survived by her cousins, also Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph, Sister Mary Louise Knott and Sister Jacinta Powers.