Sister Adele Keller, 1914-2007
Born April 15, 1914, Lexington, Kentucky
Entered St. Walburg Monastery, Covington, Kentucky, August 15, 1937
Received habit, March 21, 1938
First Profession June 28, 1939
Died November 28, 2007
Sr. Adele was born in Lexington, Kentucky on April 15, 1914 to John and Mary Elizabeth Scott Keller and given the name Frances. Frances was the third of five children. Her brother, Louis Scott Keller, was ordained in Rome as a priest of the diocese of Covington, but died shortly after in 1934. Frances became a postulant at St. Walburg Monastery on August 15, 1937 and received the habit and her new name, Adele, on March 21, 1938. She made first profession on June 28, 1939 and perpetual profession on June 29, 1942.
Sr. Adele taught third, fourth and fifth grade children during her forty years of service in the classroom. She ministered at St. Benedict’s, St. Joseph, Crescent Springs, Blessed Sacrament and twenty-six years at St. Henry’s from which she retired in 1983. During her retirement years she was often at the portress desk in the front hall, answering the phone and welcoming visitors.
Her family was important to Sr. Adele. She remembered and cherished the details of growing up with her mother and father and four siblings, Louis, Eleanor, Anita and Margaret (who became Sr. Louis). Her parents and two sisters spent the last days at Madonna Manor where she visited frequently; her devoted nieces and cousins often visited her in the infirmary. Friends of her teaching days kept contact; her gratitude to all was evident. Her “thank you” to visiting sisters, friends, and employees in the infirmary was heartfelt and habitual.
In her later years, although crippled feet and legs prevented her from moving about as she wished, Sr. Adele’s presence in her wheelchair in the monastery chapel was constant. A hearing device assisted her at Eucharist and Liturgy of the Hours. She was at Bishop Hughes Pavilion for a short time in November and December, hoping to be able to move about more easily with her walker. She died on November 28, 2007 and is remembered fondly by her Benedictine community, three nieces, several cousins and many good friends.