Sr. Florentia Riebel, A.S.C.

Sister Florentia Riebel, ASC, died Dec. 1 after a brief illness. She was 106 years old, and lived 88 of those years as a professed Adorer of the Blood of Christ.

She was born Oct. 21, 1916, in a sod house near Schoenchen, Kan., to Clement and Anna (Dinges) Riebel. Baptized Martina, she was the oldest in a family of five girls and seven boys. 

Sister Florentia attended Saint Anthony parish school for one year and made her first Communion. 

After the family moved to Bazine, Kan., she completed her elementary education at Riverside, a rural public school. At age 15, she entered the convent on Aug. 24, 1932, in Wichita, Kan. She began the novitiate on Aug. 2, 1933, receiving the name Florentia, which in later years was often shortened to “Sister Flo.” She pronounced her first vows on Aug. 6, 1934, and her permanent vows on Aug. 10, 1939. A few months after high school graduation from Saint John’s Academy in Wichita, Sister Florentia began nursing training in Enid. Ten days after she graduated from Saint Mary Hospital School of Nursing in 1941, she was appointed supervisor on the medical and surgical floor. Three years later she was assigned to a hospital in New Mexico. 

She would return to Enid later in her career, and for more than 20 years she supervised University of Oklahoma medical students who did their clinical training at Saint Mary hospital. She worked in the Enid Public School System as physical therapist and at Enid Memorial Hospital. She ministered as an emergency room nurse and a home health nurse and therapist. 

In 1996, Saint Mary Hospital held a special celebration for Sister Florentia’s 80th birthday. She officially retired in 1999, but continued to volunteer at Saint Mary.

Even after moving to the Wichita Center in 2009, Sister Florentia continued to enjoy traveling and spending time with her extended family, especially their annual summer Reibel Reunion. Until the COVID-19 pandemic, she was a competitive participant during card games, especially Pitch. 

Preceding Sisiter Florentia in death were her parents Clement and Anna; her brothers Norbert, Paul, John, Victor, Melvin and Leon; her sisters, Sister Leona, A.S.C., Sister Barbara, A.S.C., and Sister Winifred, A.S.C., and Arlene Drake. 

Sister Florentia is survived by her brothers Wilbert (Mary Ann) and sister-in-law Norma (Melvin). Many nieces and nephews into second, third and fourth generations also survive along with members of the Adorers of the Blood of Christ community. 

The wake service for Sister Florentia was Dec. 5 at the Wichita Center. The Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated Dec. 6 with Father Tom Welk as presider and homilist. She was buried in the Wichita Center cemetery.