Flory, Jane, 1917-

Jane Flory (nee Trescott) was born in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania on June 29, 1917, and spent much of her life in and around Philadelphia. From a young age Flory loved writing and drawing, and attended Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art (now University of the Arts) for illustration. She met Arthur Flory at the Museum School, from which they both graduated in 1939. They married in 1941. Jane Flory directed the evening division of the Philadelphia Museum School from 1958 to 1974. Shortly after graduating from art school, Flory began publishing stories in magazines. Trained as an illustrator, Flory taught herself to write for children, publishing her first children's book, Snooty, the Pig Who Was Proud, in 1944. Many of Flory's books were inspired by the history of Philadelphia, including It Was a Pretty Good Year (1977), about a family of recent immigrants living on Reed Street in South Philadelphia, and The Liberation of Clementine Tipton (1974), about the American Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876. In 1960, having already written many children's books for various publishers, Flory signed with Houghton Mifflin. They remained her exclusive publisher until her retirement in 1982. Flory illustrated her own books until the 1970s, when she began occasionally collaborating with illustrator Carolyn Croll. Flory wrote more than thirty-five books, all but three self-illustrated. She died on December 2, 2005, in Philadelphia.