Barbara Floria Orcutt

Travel writer and beloved high school teacher, Barbara Floria Orcutt, loses battle with cancer at age 64.

Barbara Ann Floria was born January 27, 1954 at home in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to industrial designer, James Floria, and artist, Audrey Floria. She grew up in Wisconsin and Connecticut and graduated from New Canaan High School in 1972. Barbara attended Beloit College and graduated summa cum laude from the University of Colorado, Boulder with a Bachelor of Fine Arts with an emphasis in painting in 1977.

She moved to New York City where she landed a job as an assistant photo editor at Cosmopolitan Magazine. She married her sweetheart, Allen Orcutt, in 1984. She continued her career as a photo editor and travel writer at MD Magazine. In 1987 she became the founding editor for the nation’s largest corporate health magazine, Vitality. She was a devoted teacher at Bridges and Glenwood Springs High School for many years. She felt a deep responsibility to her students and loved sharing her passion for travel and the arts.

Barbara was a devoted wife, friend, and above all, mother. Her son Andre was born in 1986, and her daughter Georgia Grace was born in 1988. Allen and Barbara raised their children in No Name, Colorado for many years. During their time in Colorado, she loved walking her Shetland Sheepdogs, writing her stories, caring for her children, all while her husband played the banjo and wrote her love poems. She was also a stepmother to Allen’s two daughters, Ashley and Amy, whom she loved dearly.

Barbara Ann Floria Orcutt had a love for adventure, education, and music that was contagious to all around her. Her office in No Name was filled with the sounds of Joni Mitchell and James Taylor, and of course peanut M&Ms. She would light up the room with a smile and make lifelong friends with strangers on the street. Even after her diagnosis, she continued to travel the world, became a grandmother and lived life to the fullest like she always had. Like the traveler she was at heart, she made one last trip to Amsterdam with her daughter, Georgia Grace Gibsone, just months before she passed. Barbara is survived by her son Andre, her daughter Georgia, her grandson Nils, her stepdaughters Amy and Ashley, and her brother David Floria.

Barbara’s memorial service will be held on Sunday, November 25th. Please email andre.orcutt@gmail.com for details.

In lieu of bringing flowers or gifts for the family, we please ask that you instead make a donation to any of these charitable organizations in her name, which she supported for many years:

Doctors Without Borders

Save The Children

Disabled American Veterans

ASPCA