Anonymous
Mary Alice Floyd passed away Oct. 24, 2020 at Vista Del Monte Retirement Home in Santa Barbara at age 92 of complications from a stroke.
She leaves behind her husband of 68 years, Gerald Floyd of Santa Barbara, a daughter-in-law Cathy McDonald Floyd and granddaughter Haley Floyd, both of Poulsbo, Washington. Her dear son Jonathan Curran Floyd passed away in 2016.
Mary Alice was born in Mobile, Alabama, on Feb. 27, 1928 to Nell Curran Palmer and Walter Shasta Palmer. Her father, a Californian, brought the family to San Francisco, where he was raised, during Mary Alice’s first year of high school. The family returned to Mobile, where Mary Alice graduated from Murphy High School.
Mary Alice attended college at Tulane University, then graduated from the University of Montevallo, near Birmingham, Alabama, the state’s only public liberal arts college. She earned her bachelor of arts with a major in sociology and a minor in social work.
Some people, it seems, are born knowing what they want to do, and from an early age, Mary Alice’s chosen field was social work. Her early experiences as a young teen included going to downtown Mobile in search of her grandfather who often lost his way home.
On graduation from high school, Mary Alice worked summers at the Mobile office of Child and Family Services. Her mother took Mary Alice with her when she moved to San Francisco because her husband Walter Palmer, who spent much of Mary Alice’s young life at seas as a marine engineer, came to port in San Francisco.
Mary Alice lived in California on and off for from 1951-53, during which time she was employed as a social worker at the Oakland Department of Social Welfare. She met her husband Gerald Floyd at that office. She worked upstairs in the office of Old Age Security and he was working downstairs at Aid to Needy Children.
They had a mutual friend, Minerva, who introduced them at lunch one day. In March 1952 they were married in Mobile in the Presbyterian Church that Mary Alice attended as a child.
They moved to Santa Barbara in 1954 when Gerald was offered a position as a guidance counselor at the Santa Barbara City College. That same year the couple celebrated the birth of their son Jonathan.
Mary Alice was a former director of the Cal Lutheran Graduate Studies Program (Santa Barbara branch), and the Alienated Youth Project. She also spent two years counseling patients, their families, and staff as the head of the Hospice Program at Pinecrest.
Mary Alice frequently lectured on a variety of topics about applied psychology on cruise ships, GM Delco, Goleta Valley Hospital Drug and Alcohol Unit, The Oaks of Ojai Health, the Women’s Community, and as part of the annual Santa Barbara Women’s Day Conference.
Mary Alice was listed in Richard Bolles’ book “What Color is Your Parachute?”
Mary Alice had an extensive career in education, including teaching at Laguna Blanca, Golden Gate University, the University of California extension, and the Santa Barbara City College Adult Division.
At SBCC she taught a popular course on career counseling for adults that influenced the lives of many of her students in job transition. The course also propelled her second career in private practice as a career counselor, which she ran out of her home office until the Floyds moved to Vista Del Monte in 2016.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you remember the Unitarian Society of Santa Barbara, 1535 Santa Barbara St., Santa Barbara, CA 93101. A memorial service will be scheduled in the near future.
