Pictured is Sister Florence Kinsela.
Sr Florence Kinsela, or “Flo” as she is affectionately known, recently celebrated her 103rd birthday with a lovely afternoon tea surrounded by friends and family at the Southern Cross Village in Parkes on 28 August.
Born in Parkes, or possibly Manildra, Flo has called Parkes home her whole life and she says “I’ve got a good family here.”
Very fond of her family, Flo is said to have had a great relationship with her sisters. Nephew David White spoke of being the eldest nephew of around 18 nieces and nephews, some of whom had travelled up from Sydney, the South Coast and even as far as Melbourne to help celebrate with Flo.
Flo left school and helped out at the convent until becoming a nun at the age of 17 and has dedicated her entire life to helping others since then. In fact, Sister Florence Kinsela is the oldest living nun from the Sisters of Mercy College.
By all accounts, Flo is well travelled and is a fantastic cook, spending a lot of time in Broken Hill, Wilcannia and Sans Souci, where her main duties were cooking and ordering food for the boarding students that they looked after. Her favorite place is said to be Wilcannia, where she spent a lot of time and developed a great relationship to the indigenous people. When Flo celebrated her 100th birthday her pride of joy on the day was a card that she received from the people of Wilcannia that she was so fond of.
Flo is an amazing lady and still keeps herself as busy as can be even at 103.