Florence Conley Kline was born February 17, 1920 at Glasgow, Montana.
She was the first child of Paul Harry Conley and Minnie Josephine (Hanson) Conley, both from North Dakota. Her mother was of Norwegian descent and her father was of Irish and Norwegian descent. Her father and grandfather were pioneer railroad engineers in the northwest. An Irish great-great grandfather, Luke Conley, built Mr. Rochester’s stone mill at a site that later became Rochester, New York.
Florence was a longtime employee of Wheeler Hospital in Gilroy, California. She was one of the first women to complete two years of study at North Idaho Junior College (now North Idaho College), and won archery awards in northern Idaho in the late 1930s. During World War Two (prior to the existence of the CIA) she served in the United States Department of State’s top-secret cryptology section as a Code Clerk.
She was the widow of Joseph Nathaniel Kline II of Washington, DC.
She is survived by four children Joseph (Donna) Kline, Linda Kline, Stephen Kline and Paul (Martha) Kline and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She is also survived by a sister Pauline (Conley) Wilson and half-siblings Donald Conley, James Conley, Joan Conley (Gary) Gaspard and Colleen Conley (Barry) Wright.
She was predeceased by her parents and a sister, Alice.
Memorial Service 2:30pm, Saturday, January 27, 2018 at Habing Family Funeral Home, Gilroy.
Online condolences at www.habingfamilyfuneralhome.com
Donations may be made in her memory to St. Joseph Family Center, 7950 Church St. A, Gilroy, CA 95020.
Florence Kline
February 17, 1920 - December 25, 2017
