Born in London 1905, Florence immigrated to Canada in 1906 with parents Walter and Daisy Raymond and settled in Fredericton.
She graduated from the Fredericton High School in 1922 and placed second out of 275 candidates who wrote the 1922 Provincial
University Matriculation Exams. Florence was awarded a Lord Beaverbrook Under-graduate Scholarship for four years of study, being
one of the very first women to receive one; she earned a UNB BA (Honours in Natural Science and Chemistry) in 1926. She taught
1926-27 in Sussex and began a 20-year teaching career in Milltown High School, where she taught English, French and Science,
coached the basketball team and served as principal during the Second World War. From 1957 to 1966, Florence taught in St. Stephen
High School and served as a supply teacher during 1966-1967; a lifelong learner she earned a UNB BEd degree in 1964.
At UNB she participated in a wide range of campus activities; to name a few she served as a member of the Student Representative
Council, as a delegate to two conferences of the Student Christian Association, and as a member of the Ladies' Varsity Basketball
Team in 1922 and 1923; in 1991 she and a fellow teammate were honoured at the Alumni Reunion by present members of the basket-ball team.
A dedicated teacher demanding and receiving respect, she constantly urged her students to do their best; at the August 2000
Milltown High School reunion she received praise from many former students for the positive influence she had been on them and
helping to lay the foundation for their future careers; she was a pioneer teacher in New Brunswick in that she was successful in
combining the careers of wife, mother, teacher and active community worker.
In 1931 she married Philip Trecarten and told the school board that, though it was not usually done, she would continue teaching;
the couple had one child, a daughter, Connie, and in her lifetime was blessed with three grandchildren and lived to see four of her
six great-grandchildren.
Her many community activities included serving as Treasurer of the Milltown United Church, as a leader of the Canadian Girls
in Training (CGIT), as a director of summer camps at Todds Point, as a member for 48 years of the Queen Mary Chapter Order of the
Eastern Star serving for 35 years as its treasurer and as Grand Treasurer of Grand Chapter of New Brunswick for 26 years. Florence
served as a member of the executive of the Canadian Institute for the Blind (CNIB), as secretary as well as treasurer of the Charlotte
County Hospital Ladies' Auxiliary for several years; in 1967 she was awarded the Canadian Centennial Medal for distinguished service
to her profession as a highly respected and dedicated teacher and for her exemplary service to her community.
She found time for such hobbies as crocheting and sewing, for travelling to Europe and New Zealand as well as China at the age of 88,
for solving crossword puzzles and playing bridge, and spending time at her Oak Bay Cottage.
A woman with high energy, when her husband became ill with cancer, she successfully passed her driver's test and undaunted by
distance or weather occasionally drove to Fredericton to visit relatives.
When asked what it was like to have Mrs. Trecarten as a teacher, Anna Marie Mulherin of Cornwall, PEI, a graduate of the St. Stephen
Class of 1961 said: "As a teacher she was A-1. She knew her subjects. When you asked a question, she didn't have to refer to a textbook
for the answer. She had it in her head. However, she scared the daylights out of you. You did your homework for her class because you
KNEW you would be quizzed the next day."
