Orion Roberta Floyd (Kilcup) passed away peacefully in her sleep at home early on Thursday morning, Aug. 26, 2021. In her final days, she was surrounded by close friends and family.
Orion was born March 7, 1937, in Hoquiam, Washington to Alden and Kathleen Kilcup. She married Richard Floyd (1937-2015) in 1962 and moved to Seattle, where they raised their three daughters, Sandra Floyd, Sarah Floyd and Summer Floyd.
During Orion’s childhood, she spent her time playing with paper dolls, “shopping” through catalogs, cheerleading with her friend Donna Rae, and playing musical instruments in school. She loved playing tricks on her parents and siblings. She would do anything to get a laugh! She attended Emerson Grade School, Hoquiam Junior High, and Hoquiam High School. She could still remember her high school fight song!
Orion’s career was always very important to her. She worked as an executive assistant at various companies, including the Port of Grays Harbor, the Port of Seattle, Digital Systems and Mosaix. She even spent time working on a cranberry bog. She retired from Nextel in the 1990s.
She moved back down to Hoquiam and built a life with Warren Gunderson. They were married in 2017 in Montesano, Washington. She loved cooking, dancing with Warren in the living room, and tending to her flower and vegetable garden. She also loved spending time talking with her friends and getting caught up on everyone’s lives. She and Warren travelled together for many years. They visited several countries, including Mexico, Canada, China, Japan, Greece, Turkey, Scotland, and various islands in the Bahamas. She loved to travel!
To know Orion was to love her. You could always rely on her to listen with care and without judgement, to laugh with you at silly things or to tell an irreverent joke. She always had a love for airplanes and would imagine where they were flying to or from. Look up into the sun and stars and tell her you say hello! And never stop retelling stories about when she made you laugh. Everyone has one!
Orion was preceded in death by her father, Alden Kilcup; her mother, Kathleen Kilcup; her sister, Muriel Giroski; and her brother, Alan Kilcup. She is survived by her brother, Ian Kilcup of Depoe Bay, Oregon; her three daughters and grandchildren, all who live in the Seattle area: Sandra Floyd, married to Paula Cuneo, and their children, Paul Long and Jack Long; Sarah Floyd and her children, Tyler Manning, Tre Manning, and Ava Manning; and Summer Floyd.
Funeral services will be held once it is safer to do so. We will continue to monitor the Washington state COVID mandates to make a determination on when it is safe to hold her service. Details will be published once they are finalized. If you have any questions about the service or anything else, feel free to call Orion’s youngest daughter, Summer, at 206-225-9648.
