Obituary of Florence F. Enslow

On Friday, March 27, 2020, Florence Fraser Enslow of Maplewood, NJ, passed away of natural causes at the age of 89. Born on February 26, 1931, in Port Colborne, Ontario, Canada, she was the second daughter of Helen Meikle and Simon Fraser, both immigrants from the Glasgow region in Scotland. Her older sister, Mildred Fraser Park, predeceased her.

 

Florence became a registered nurse at Millard Fillmore Hospital in Buffalo, NY, and worked on the surgical floor. She met her future husband, Ridley Enslow, Jr., through a chance encounter. They married in October 1953 and moved to Greenwich Village in New York City, where Florence continued working as a nurse until starting a family.

 

She raised three boys while living in Northern New Jersey (Milburn, Chatham, and Short Hills) and briefly in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania. She was a long-time resident of Short Hills and a member of the Millburn-Short Hills Volunteer First Aid Squad where she drove an ambulance for many years. She had a second career spanning ten years as the store nurse for Abraham & Straus at The Mall at Short Hills.

 

Following in her mother’s footsteps, she was famous in the family for making traditional Scottish shortbread. A lover of the British monarchy, she enjoyed coffee table books of the Royal Family and their corgis. And she enjoyed her tea time.

 

She also enjoyed classical music and was a longtime supporter of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. And she was an avid museum goer who, for decades, regularly took a “culture bus” with her friends to see the latest exhibitions at museums in New York City and New Jersey.

 

A resident of a New Jersey retirement community, she was a favorite of the staff and was known for her feistiness. Always ready and eager to socialize, she especially enjoyed the cocktail hour where she could meet new people.

 

She is survived by her husband Ridley, sister-in-law Lois, three sons—Ridley, Gregory, and Brian—daughters-in-law Anne and Lisa, three granddaughters—Paige, Meghan, and Meredith Enslow—and a niece, Sally Park Rubin, Sally’s husband Edward Rubin, and their son, Sam E. Rubin. Another daughter-in-law, Linda, died in late 2018.

 

Condolences and personal reflections for the family may be left at prestonfuneralhome.net.

In lieu of flowers, if you wish to, please donate to the Millburn-Short Hills Volunteer First Aid Squad at www.mshvfas.org.

 

A service celebrating her life will be held at a later date, still to be announced.