Florence Bell, born in British Columbia, Canada, moved with her parents to the windswept prairies of Alberta at age five. There they joined her Uncle Jack and his family and her maternal grandmother at Old Sun residential school on the Blackfool Reserve. The Missionary Society of England administered this school for the Siksika tribe, and Florence's Uncle Jack, and Anglican minister was the principal. Exposed to three very different cultures, Florence had to mold her own identity, choosing what fit her from each. The British manners, morals, and customs of her grandmother were carried on in the home. Florence worshiped with the Indian children and staff at the regular chapel and church services, and she walked the road to the town of Gleichen to go to school with Canadian children. Canadians had not yet gained their independence, but had developed their own customs and accents.

The dust bowl and the Great Depression, as well as World War II influenced Florence's emerging self. She studied at St. Hilda's School for Girls and Mount Royal College in Calgary. When her uncle Jack had taught her to shoot prairie dogs on Old Sun's farm, she learned that she not only liked target shooting, but had the eye and concentration to bevery good at it. As a young woman, she joined a rifle club. At a national competition she met an American, Wesley Ore, later married him and moved across the border into Montana. They moved their growing family to Pony, MT. There, in the shadow of the Tobacco Root mountains, she reads, writes, hosts a monthly writers' group, serves as editor for Raven Publishing, and enjoys visits from her grandchildren for whom she wrote her memories.

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