Florence Purington was born on August 12, 1862 in Burnt Hills, New York. She graduated from Mount Holyoke in 1886 and began her own private school in Waterford, Connecticut. In 1887 she became an Instructor of Mathematics at Mount Holyoke. She received a B.S. from Mount Holyoke in 1896. In 1902 she changed positions to become the appointment secretary. She was appointed Dean of the College in 1907, a position she held until 1929. She also became a member of the Board of Trustees in 1925. Florence Purington died on May 22, 1950, in Holyoke, Massachusetts.