Pauline Ann Flint was born on a farm near Nashua, Iowa on February 12, 1894. She graduated from Iowa State College in 1916 with a degree in mathematics. After teaching for two years, she decided to become an Episcopal missionary and spent the next two years at St. Faith's Deaconess Training School in New York. In February 1920, she was assigned to become a mathematics teacher at St. Hilda's School, Wuchang, China. She taught for two years, returning to the U.S. when her mother became ill in 1923.