Frances Rader Longino was born August 22, 1909, in Chicago, Illinois, to Dr. Lyell M. Rader and Jennie Mabel Campbell Rader. The Raders had six children; two other daughters, Josephine and Eugenia, who died in infancy, and three boys, Lyell, Jr., Daniel M. and Paul Orville.

Because of her father's occupation as a consultant chemist, Frances and her family moved frequently, and she often received her schooling from tutors and in private schools. She did some work at Taylor University, and took courses and seminars whenever the opportunity arose. Three writers' courses from Christian Life magazine provided the training to produce over one hundred articles written during her career for Moody Monthly, War Cry, and Christian Life.

Paul Rader, her uncle, was an important influence in her family and early childhood. Frances' father was converted at a revival meeting held by his brother in Pittsburgh. As a result, he made the first contribution to a slum mission in that city. All the rest of his family was converted at its first meeting. The Bible teaching of Dr. G. Campbell Morgan and other leading Bible teachers who visited the Rader home also laid a life-long pattern for Bible study. The family regularly attended Cedar Lake Conference Grounds, where Paul Rader was an evangelist, and Winona Lake, Indiana, where another family friend and evangelist, Mel Trotter, conducted services.

The Rader family formed an evangelistic team, and moved to the New York area on invitation of the greater New York Council of Churches. Dr. Rader's background included singing in opera and vaudeville, and the Rader children received excellent musical training which was used in evangelistic meetings. Mrs. Longino was taught piano by Dr. Lance B. Latham, pianist for Paul Rader's crusades, and Dr. A. Verne Westlake, head of the music Department at Nyack Missionary Institute. Her brothers were trained under associates of Dr. Westlake, who did their hymn arrangements.

Early in the 1920s, both Frances and Lyell Rader entered the Salvation Army as a result of their father's admiration for an officer, Col. Stephen Marshall. Lyell Rader later became one of the Army's most outstanding open-air evangelists. In 1928, Frances married Ensign Frank Longino, editorial staff member of War Cry, and member of the National Staff Band under Commander Evangeline Booth. The Longinos had two children, Frank Jr., and Josephine Ann. Both married, and the Longinos had eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

As a musical, Bible-teaching team, the Longinos were stationed in Canada, the Bahamas, and Caribbean, and Mexico. They also served as Divisional Commanders in Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, responsible for all Salvation Army operations in those states. Both retired from active Army service in 1968, but continued in active Christian service in Tampa, Florida, where they lived. Mrs. Longino was an organist and Sunday School teacher and also conducted a Bible study class for alcoholics in a local rehabilitation center, as well as teaching music to thirty students. She died in 1980.