Florence Ditlow

Florence Ditlow was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Her grandfather owned a bakery in which her parents worked. She too became an employee of the sweet place by the time she reached ten years of age.

An education in nursing took her to Washington, DC. She worked as a registered nurse there, followed by Knoxville, Tennessee, Boston, Massachusetts and New York, NY prior to retiring in 1995. Hospitals utilized her skills as a writer, in order to produce patient education materials as well as the instruction of the nursing staff. She wrote for a nursing textbook company as well.

Florence used humor as a therapeutic tool throughout her nursing career. She joined in 1988, what is now called the American Association for Applied and Therapeutic Humor. The group effectively promotes the use of humor and laughter to "enhance work performance, support learning, improve health and as a coping tool." Florence wrote some articles about humor for nurses and was a contributing author in a textbook, Nursing Perspectives on Humor, edited by Karyn Buxman. Along the way she provided hundreds of fun programs for nurses and patients.

Her memoir, Long in the Tooth, appeared in 2002. The book discusses the value of humor in chronic illness and explores complementary health practices she has studied.

She wrote The Bakery Girls in 2011. This first novel is based on the family bakery and is dedicated to the real life bakery women who inspired it. View bakery photos at thebakerygirls.net and visit Florence's virtual bakery newsletter.

Florence Ditlow lives in Bonaire, a Dutch Caribbean municipality.