Born October 13, 1913, in Holy Cross, Ky., Elsie was the daughter of William and Ollie Reid Milton. The seven children of the Milton family were cared for single-handedly by their mother following the tragic death of their father. Elsie and her siblings attended school in a public school until Father Jolly Paschal Hayden had the Catholic children transported to Holy Cross. Elsie entered the novitiate at Mount Saint Joseph, received the Ursuline habit and the name Sister Wendelin on March 18, 1933.
Sister Wendelin was prepared for the teaching apostolate and her first assignment was in 1935 at St. Denis School in Shively, Ky. Throughout her teaching years, Sister Wendelin remained with the lower elementary grades. She was the perfect teacher for young children, wondering and marveling at the new things she and her students learned together. Her next assignments took her to New Haven, Owensboro (St. Joseph), and Fredericktown, Ky. In 1959, she was again missioned to St. Denis in Shively. In 1961, Sister went to Nebraska for seven years, teaching at Paul and at Lourdes Elementary in Nebraska City. She returned to Kentucky and taught at Immaculate in Owensboro until she retired in 1974, due to ill health.
Sister Wendelin was a cancer patient, and had several periods of intense suffering, but was bedfast only a few days before her death on July 1, 1977. Two days later, Father Anthony Ziegler, chaplain, celebrated her funeral Mass with two other priests. Sister Wendelin’s remains are buried in the convent cemetery.