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Victoria Slind-Flor
Victoria Slind-Flor, a legal affairs journalist, textile artist and respected elder in the Bay Area’s pagan community, died on Oct. 27, 2025, during heart surgery. She was 81.
Victoria was born Jan. 12, 1944, to Bjarne Slind, a Norwegian immigrant, and the former Mary Kathryn Mead of Ellensburg, Washington, at Oak Knoll Naval Hospital in Oakland, while her father was stationed at Treasure Island Naval Base.
The oldest of four children, Victoria grew up in Seattle and attended Holy Names Academy. In 1960, her father, a Boeing electrical engineer, transferred briefly to Cocoa Beach, Fla., with his family. Victoria graduated from Cocoa High School the next year and then enrolled at Seattle University, where she received an undergraduate degree in medieval philosophy. She also held a master’s degree in English from the University of Washington.
Victoria married and had four children – the late David Flor, Kristin Flor Perret of Vashon Island, WA, Matthew Flor of Seattle, WA and Martha Flor of Yucaipa, CA – with her first husband, the late Sidney John Flor. She became a mother figure to Margot Sue Mahannah of Apex, NC, when she married William Mahannah in 1989.
Victoria’s curiosity, passion for storytelling and fearless pursuit of the truth naturally led to a career in journalism. She began writing for community newspapers: first, the Bellevue American (now the Eastside Journal) and then she served as Food Editor of the West Bank Guide in suburban New Orleans.
Her intelligence and talent were quickly recognized, and she soon moved onto business and legal journalism, eventually focusing on intellectual property and patent law. She was a staff writer for New Orleans Business, the Los Angeles Daily Journal, The Recorder in San Francisco, the National Law Journal and American Lawyer. Her work also appeared in the UK-based Intellectual Property Law and Business, the American Bar Association Journal, Intellectual Asset Management Magazine, Bloomberg News and Quiltfolk.
After Bill died in 1997, Victoria moved to the Jingletown section of Oakland. There, she created beautiful quilts for family and friends, tended her garden, cooked and entertained large and diverse groups of friends. They gathered at her loft to celebrate Mardi Gras, hold pagan rituals and worship at her large outdoor Dia De Los Muertos altar.
She was an avid birder and photographer, who regularly drove her red SUV, named Audhumla to honor her Norwegian ancestry, to Point Reyes, Butano State Park and the Sacramento Delta to check on the birds. She was a season ticketholder for the San Francisco Ballet and loved bringing treasured friends and family with her to share in the experience.
Victoria was a prominent member of the Bay Area Pagan Alliance and founding member of the Coven of the Sacred Feminine. She participated in and hosted rituals, and in 2009, she was selected to serve as the coveted Keeper of the Light during Berkeley’s annual Pagan Festival.
She has lectured on Paganism at Mt. Diablo Community College and the Pacific School of Religion of the Graduate Theological Union at the University of California at Berkeley and taught media relations for Cherry Hill Pagan Seminary.
Victoria believed “what is remembered lives.” A beacon for so many people, Victoria will be greatly missed by all those who cherished their time with her and those who followed her daily musings about quilt shows and PantheaCon, politics and ballet, her family history and latest adventure – even if they never met in person. She will be remembered! Hail the Traveler!
In addition to her children, Victoria is survived by her grandchildren Clayton Thompson of Seattle, WA, Orion and Phoenix Ruppert of Apex, NC; siblings, Eric Slind of Gig Harbor, WA, Brigit Slind of Temecula, CA, Martha Smith of Thompson Falls, MT; and many nieces and nephews, including Peter Poole, Nicole Poole, Eric Poole, Casper Gorman, Leo Poole, Adam, Nick and Lars Slind, Zach and Sarah Smith, and Clinton Poole.
