Florence Arlene Leiner

Florence Arlene “Bunny” Leiner went home to God’s beautiful gardens on Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024 at the age of 96.  She had resided at Danbury in Wooster for two months at the time she passed.

Florence was born at her grandparent’s home on County Rd. 77 near Fredericksburg an hour after Christmas Day in 1927.  She was raised on the 100 acre family farm just down the road from where she was born.  She talked of the hard work on the farm, cleaning the cow and horse stalls and plowing, planting and harvesting crops.  She attended Franklin Elementary, Nonpariel School for one year and then graduated from Fredericksburg High School with the class of 1945.  During her senior year she worked after school from 4-5 pm at the Fredericksburg Pottery for .35 cents an hour.  She worked as a “paraffiner” and in the “War Room” wrapping bearings in oil cloth.  In 1945 she took basic science courses at Akron University and lived in a St. Thomas dorm.  She put herself though nursing school at St. Thomas telling of the 12 hour days that student nurses had to put in.  She graduated in 1948 as a General Nurse and then spent 3 months training at Massillon State in psychiatry.  Florence received her Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing in 1953 from Ohio State as a RN and later received her Masters Degree from Case Western Reserve.

Florence did private duty and general duty nursing at Wooster Hospital, Orrville Hospital, Pomerene in Millersburg, was head nurse in the Cleveland Clinic Recovery Room for a period of time and had worked in various doctors’ offices.  After receiving her Master’s Degree she went to California and was in charge of a small 30 bed psychiatric hospital.

Florence came back home to Fredericksburg when her mother Alda needed more care and for 10 years she helped with the care of her mother both in Fredericksburg and in Cleveland.  In addition to caring for her mother, she had helped care for her brother Jim, her uncle Russell, and her sister Eleanor during times of illness.   She spent 28 years at the Cleveland VA Hospital working in the psychiatric ward and later in the heart /lung ward.  Florence was an excellent caring nurse who received many thank you notes from patients that she cared for and from doctors she worked with.

After retiring in 1991, she enjoyed auctions, thrift stores and traveling with her sister Eleanor, brother-in-law Art, and niece Kim to many destinations such as Branson and Florida.  She moved to Wooster in 2005 and was an avid reader who loved crossword puzzles and was an exceptional tv “Jeopardy” player.  Florence was a wonderful daughter, sister and aunt and was beloved by her family.  The last two years she was blessed to have her personal caregivers who brought love, laughter and friendship into her life.  Many thanks to Tom, Linda, Laurie, Cindy, Sheila, Julie, Victoria, Jenna, Ruth and Jen M.

She was preceded in death by her parents Robert D. and Alda (Haley) Leiner, her brothers James, Kenneth and Harold “Bub” Leiner, sister and brother-in-law  Eleanor and Arthur Slutz, niece Kim Slutz and nephew Rex Leiner.  Surviving are nieces and nephews, Diane Covert, Karen (Larry) Badger, Deb (Jon) Thompson, Jerry (Olivia) Leiner, John Leiner and Callie Selders; great-nieces and nephews, great great-nieces and nephews and cousins including special cousins Larry and Norma Richeson and Tommy Sands.

Services will be Saturday, Nov. 23rd at 2:00 p.m. at Murray Funeral Home in Fredericksburg with burial in Fredericksburg East Cemetery.  There will be no calling hours.  In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Ohio’s Hospice LifeCare, 1900 Akron Rd., Wooster, OH 44691.