Florence M. Santore

After a long, joy-filled life, Florence Santore, 93, died peacefully on July 5, 2023. Florence is survived by daughter Maria, granddaughter Giorgia, and many nephews and nieces. She was preceded in death by her husband Gabriel, brother Paul, and sister Eleanor.

Florence, or “Flo” to those close to her, was born in 1930 to parents Pauline and Anthony in the tightly-knit Lithuanian immigrant community of Duryea Pennsylvania. There, many families, including Florence’s, supported themselves through and suffered the casualties of the coal mining industry.

Florence attended the University of Pennsylvania on a full four-year scholarship earning a Bachelors Degree in Nursing in 1955, and later obtained her MS in Nursing from the Catholic University of America. Her working years were dedicated to caring for the sick in Scranton, at the George Washington University Hospital, the National Institutes of Health, and later, Fairfax Innova Hospital. Florence cared compassionately for patients of all ages, from newborns to the aged and, recognized for her precision and observational diligence, was assigned high profile individuals and challenging cases such as patients with brain injuries.

At a time when most women married in their twenties or earlier, Florence lived for well over a decade as a single young independent woman in Philadelphia and Washington D.C. She supported herself as a nurse, saved for her first car, a 1958 VW beetle, and enjoyed summer trips to Rehoboth beach. She met her future husband, Gabriel, in their apartment building on Wisconsin Avenue. They were married in 1962 and celebrated their 50th anniversary shortly before his death. In 1963, she moved to Fairfax Virginia and took a hiatus from the NIH to raise daughter Maria, later returning to nursing until her retirement. During her time as a homemaker, she refined her talent as a seamstress and needlework specialist: she sewed all Maria’s clothes until high school, filled her home with finely embroidered linens, braided rugs, and crocheted afghans, and knitted hats and sweaters for family and friends. Florence was ahead of her time in her convictions on the importance of conservation: starting in the 1960s before such issues surfaced in the news, Florence minimized electricity usage, recycled, re-used, composted, and consciously avoided creating waste.

Florence loved the outdoors of the Northeastern Pennsylvania mountains and the C&O canal, and the life they held, and she could identify many species of birds and native plants. More than once she safely navigated surprise wildlife encounters, including poisonous copperhead snakes. Another life-long love, Florence’s passion for flower gardening followed her from her child hood days in Duryea to her final hours, and is documented in early silver gelatin prints and modern Google Earth photos alike. Florence was also an avid swimmer, first at YWCAs in her youth and later as a regular at the Oak Marr Rec Center in Fairfax. Before turning sixty she earned her 50 mile card from the Red Cross for swimming 50 one-mile sessions in a 50-meter pool. Over her remaining lifetime she increased that mileage by more than a factor of ten, backing off to half-mile swims only after lung surgery, and continuing half mile swims beyond her 89th birthday.

Memorial donations may be made to Florence’s favorite charities: the Schools of Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania and at Catholic U. More importantly though, Florence would ask you to thank your nurses the next time you or a family member receive care. Please additionally honor Florence’s memory by recycling and composting, and by noticing flowers the next time you walk by a bed of them. Or plant some yourself where they can be enjoyed by many.