Stella was born March 16, 1880, the daughter of Thomas and Minerva Vittitoe Pike of Raywick, Ky. She entered the novitiate at Mount Saint Joseph when she was 32 years old. Following a four-month postulancy, Stella received the Ursuline habit and the name Sister Wilhelmina on November 21, 1912.
Sister Wilhelmina spent her years in community teaching, not in the usual sense of classroom teaching but as an educator by example. She was a gracious, generous woman who served as housekeeper using her gifts of cooking, baking, sewing, carpentry, grass cutting, good humor and prayerfulness to the edification and amazement to all who knew her. In 1913, Sister was missioned to Stithton, Ky., where she remained three years. Sister Wilhelmina helped to make life comfortable in many Ursuline convents where the Ursulines of Mount Saint Joseph served: Loretto, Knottsville, Howardstown, Louisville (St. Columba), Flaherty, Clementsville, and Raywick in Kentucky; Nebraska City and Wynot in Nebraska; and again in Kentucky at Fairfield, Raywick (St. Joseph), Fancy Farm, Mayfield, Central City, Shively and Bardwell.
Sister Wilhelmina returned to Mount Saint Joseph in 1943, generously spending nearly 30 years in many positions of domestic service in her usual gracious, unassuming manner. During that time, Sister was given an opportunity to travel to the Southwest with Sister Victoria Brohm, to visit the New Mexico missions where our Sisters labored. She marveled at how the Ursulines had made such a difference in the lives of the American Indians, especially. After experiencing many of the wonders of nature found in that part of the country, she decided that “her Maple Mount home” was BEST!
September 8, 1972, the angel of death came for Sister Wilhelmina, age 92. On September 9, Msgr. Bernard Powers, chaplain, celebrated her funeral Mass. Sister’s remains are buried in the convent cemetery.