Born November 6, 1899, in St. Mary, Ky., Mary Teresa was one of twin daughters born to Thomas and Mary Mattingly. At the age of 3, both twins had pneumonia, which proved fatal for Mary Alethia. Schooling for Mary Teresa began at Birk’s Spring School near Loretto. Her elementary education continued at St. Charles School, which was staffed by the Ursuline Sisters from Mount Saint Joseph. She began her high school years at St. Charles but attended Mount Saint Joseph Academy beginning with her sophomore year. At the age of 16, Mary Teresa entered the novitiate at Mount Saint Joseph. Following a three‑month postulancy, she received the Ursuline habit on October 24, 1916, and the name Sister Thomasina. As time passed, she was being called Sister Thomasine so she began using that name herself.
While in the novitiate, Sister Thomasine continued her secondary education and prepared for the teaching apostolate. She was first assigned to Earlington, Ky., to finish the second semester of the 1917 school year. She was sent to St. William in Knottsville, Ky., where she taught the upper grades for four years and was then sent to Wilhelmina, Mo., teaching grades seven and eight for seven years. She returned to Kentucky and taught either the upper elementary grades or high school classes at Hardinsburg, Shively, Rome, Howardstown, Jeffersonville, Wax, St. Francis, New Haven, Fredericktown, and St. Charles. She attended Western Kentucky State Teachers College in Bowling Green, Ursuline College in Louisville, and the University of Missouri in Columbia, furthering her own education and developing teaching skills.
Sister Thomasine retired from teaching in 1970 and spent the rest of her life at Mount Saint Joseph. She was involved in many of her favorite pastimes: prayer, crafts and needlework, keeping in touch with her friends, getting to know the younger Sisters, keeping abreast of current events, and supporting the work of renewal in the community after Vatican II. In the final years of her life, she suffered from loss of hearing and partial blindness. Books-on-tape and musical recordings became her constant companions. Death came to her on April 20, 1993. Two days later, Msgr. Bernard Powers celebrated the funeral Mass. Sister Thomasine’s remains are buried in the convent cemetery.