Born October 8, 1895, in Knottsville, Ky., Lucy Cecilia was the daughter of William Pius and Mary Elizabeth Payne, one of 10 children. At the age of 17, Cecilia entered the novitiate at Mount Saint Joseph and on May 5, 1914, she received the Ursuline habit and the name Sister Virginia.
Sister Virginia’s apostolate was domestic service. In her first assignment, she spent one year at Curdsville, Ky. She spent the next year at St. Mary’s in Marion County, Ky., followed by one year in Jeffersonville, Ind. In 1918, she was missioned to St. Paul in Louisville for three years. From 1921 to 1930, Sister served one year at each of the following convents in Kentucky: Fancy Farm, Stanley, Fairfield, St. Lawrence, Fancy Farm (repeat), St. Lawrence, Stanley (repeat). During this time, she was hospitalized briefly on separate occasions at three hospitals — Owensboro, Shively, and Fairfield — suffering from osteoporosis. From 1930 to 1954, Sister was off duty at Mount Saint Joseph. After another hospitalization, she tried housekeeping once again and went to Stanley in 1957. She was able to stay only a month, then returned to Mount Saint Joseph for the remainder of her life.
In March 1963, Sister Virginia was hospitalized and underwent a right radical mastectomy. In late August, Sister was hospitalized for removal of fluid from her lungs, then returned to the infirmary at Mount Saint Joseph where she died on September 2, 1963. The sermon at her funeral Mass was delivered by her nephew, Father Joseph E. Payne, CSC. Sister’s remains are buried in the convent cemetery. Among her survivors were her two Ursuline sisters, Sister Dorothy and Sister Ignatius.