Gerald L. Floyd

Longtime Santa Barbara resident Gerald Floyd passed away on April 19, 2026, at Vista Del Monte Retirement Home after a brief illness.

Gerry leaves behind his daughter-in-law, Cathy McDonald Floyd, and granddaughter, Haley Ann Floyd, both of Poulsbo, Washington. His loving wife of 68 years, Mary Alice Floyd, predeceased him in 2020, and his dear son, Jonathan Curran Floyd, passed away in 2016.

Gerry was born in Pasadena, California, on October 22, 1925, to Leroy Floyd of Kansas and Mary Medcalf of Missouri. He spent his childhood in Lassen, California, before moving to Sacramento, where he graduated from high school.

During World War Two, he served as an aviation draftsman for the Army Air Corps in Texas until the end of the war. He subsequently graduated from Chico State University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology. Gerry later completed his Master of Arts in Education at Stanford University.

Gerry met his longtime love, Mary Alice Palmer of Mobile, Alabama, in 1951 while both were working at the Oakland Department of Social Welfare. In March 1952, they married at the same Presbyterian church in Mobile that Mary Alice had attended as a child. They moved to Santa Barbara in 1954 when Gerry was offered a position as a guidance counselor at Santa Barbara City College. At that time, the college was still located at its Riviera campus before relocating to the former UCSB Industrial Arts Building on the Mesa, a product of 1930s WPA labor programs. Their son, Jonathan, joined the family in October of that same year.

Gerry had a distinguished career as a guidance counselor at City College. For several decades, he led the foreign student counseling division, during which time he had a huge impact on the lives of a generation of international students. In addition, he served as a visiting professor at both Tulane University in New Orleans and Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama’s oldest institution of higher learning. Gerry retired from City College in 1980.

Gerry was an active member of both the Cosmopolitan Club and the Unitarian Society of Santa Barbara. He was also an avid bike rider and took yearly trips through the Sierra Nevada as far north as Yosemite National Park. He continued to ride daily into his 90s. Gerry recently celebrated his 100th birthday with a gala luncheon at Vista Del Monte attended by family and friends.

Friends may remember Gerry through the Unitarian Society of Santa Barbara.