Born to Charles and Florence Cooper Wiseman of Rineyville, Ky., on Aug. 12, 1900, Irene was the only girl in a large family of boys. During her elementary grades she attended St. Patrick School at Stithton. She began high school as a boarding student at Bethlehem Academy, taught by the Sisters of Loretto, in St. Johns near Rineyville. She enrolled her senior year at Mount Saint Joseph Academy. She entered the novitiate at Mount Saint Joseph on July 16, 1920. As one of Sister Aloysius Willett’s last postulants, Irene received the Ursuline habit on March 19, 1921. She was given the name Sister Florine.
Sister Florine began her apostolic work the following September as housekeeper at St. Angela Home in Louisville. She spent her entire active mission life trying to make the convent a happy home for the Sisters teaching in the schools. Sister Florine was missioned later to Cloverport, and Clementsville in Kentucky, to Wynot in Nebraska, and to Glennonville in Missouri. Sister Florine lived a very hidden life free from spectacular events. Besides preparing meals for the Sisters, Sister Florine had a special touch for washing and ironing the altar linens and the Sisters’ personal linens to perfection. Sister’s last mission assignment was to St. Angela Home in Louisville, where she had first begun. This time her ministry was keeping the infirmary rooms neat and orderly and carrying meals to the Sisters who were bed patients recuperating from surgery and other serious illness under the care of doctors in the city.
After a brief time as a patient at St. Anthony Hospital in Louisville, Sister Florine died on March 14, 1958. An autopsy revealed an acute inflammation of the pancreas. Her remains were brought to Mount Saint Joseph for the funeral services. On March 17, Msgr. Gilbert Henninger, chaplain, offered the funeral Mass. Sister’s remains were buried in the convent cemetery