After growing up in Pittsburgh, with weekends and summers at her  grandmother's home in Punxsutawney,  she graduated from UCLA, held  unimportant jobs in New York for three years (unimportant jobs, yes, but: New York? ! ) until meeting and marrying Captain Don Heide.  After the War (WWII, not the Civil War), they  moved to Wisconsin, where Don practiced law and Florence practiced having babies. When their five children started to school, she started to write, and once started she couldn't stop. She has now published many books for children, picture books and juvenile  novels, poetry, many lyrics for songs (what do you mean, you've never heard any of those terrific songs? just wait - ) and now is probably old enough to write for grownups as well, although she has no idea what she might write for those old people.