Floye Marie Custer, age 90, of Santa Clarita, CA passed away at home on Thursday, April 4, 2013. She was born on November 23, 1922, in Frederick, OK to George and Bertha Porter. Growing-up on farms around Davidson, there was an outhouse, no electricity and baths in a tub. She picked cotton, baled hay and excelled at embroidery for which she won a blue ribbon at the OK State Fair. Attending a one room school until 7th grade, she read voraciously and later, was the Valedictorian of her 1939 class of 8 students.
Floye was proud to be one of a few chosen to train and build the Norton Bombsights at Lowry Air Base, CO which helped us win the war. While in Denver, she met the love of her life, her husband, Lyle Vincent Custer. Lyle had just returned from serving in the Army Air Corps. They married on January 30, 1945, moving to Burbank, CA in 1947. Buying a new home in the "boondocks" of Granada Hills, CA in 1956, they raised two children, Dana and Diane. Floye was PTA President at Granada Hills Elementary, a Girl Scout leader and long-time election board worker. After retirement, together they enjoyed square-dancing, volunteering at the LAPD Community Center in Granada Hills and being active at Knollwood United Methodist Church. Floye always finished crossword puzzles in ink. In 2005, Lyle and Floye moved to Canyon Country to be close to their children and grandchildren.
By cruise ship and motor home, they traveled all across the country and Canada, to Alaska, Hawaii, through the Panama Canal and in their late 50's, explored Machu Picchu in Peru. Floye worked for decades as a professional seamstress sewing wedding gowns, suits and matching outfits for her 3 grandsons, all of whom loved Grandma's "from scratch" pies, cakes and farm-style cooking.
Floye was preceded in death by her husband, Lyle Vincent Custer and her daughter, Diane Priscilla Valantine, her parents, George and Bertha Porter, her brother, James Porter and her sisters, Leila Hoover and Vesta Hayes. She is survived by her son, Dana Edwin (Jacqueline) Custer, her grandsons, Brian Lyle (JoAnne) Custer, Andrew David (Amy) Valantine and Joshua Aaron (Leslie) Valantine, her great-grandchildren, Madelynn and Noah Custer, Ezra Valantine, Bethany, Olivia Valantine, her younger sister, Betty (Paul) Self, her loving care-giver, Sylvia Jagroop and her family and dozens of nieces and nephews.
Services will be held on Monday, April 8, 2013 at 1:00 p.m. in the Chapel of the Hills, Eternal Valley Memorial Park and Mortuary, 23287 Sierra Hwy, Newhall, CA 91321. Floye was an amazing woman who will be missed by her family and friends.