Flora Bennita Carter Flood's Obituary
LIFE SKETCH OF FLORA BENNITA “TIPPY” CARTER FLOOD
Sunrise: September 21, 1944
Sunset: June 3, 2026
Flora Bennita “Tippy” Carter Flood was born on September 21, 1944, in Stamford, Connecticut to Benjamin Carter and Geraldine Banks Ogburn. She was given the nickname “Tippy” because she walked everywhere on her tippy toes as a young girl.
Flora’s early formative years took place in Port Chester, New York surrounded by a large extended family of cousins, aunts, and uncles. When her mom found and joined the Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) Church, they learned of a private, historically Black boarding school named Oakwood College Academy (OCA) in Huntsville, AL and decided that was where she would attend high school. There, Flora flourished in her faith and as a member of the illustrious OCA Class of 1962, forming lifelong friendships.
Upon graduating, Flora pursued a career in nursing, matriculating at Glendale Sanitarium and Hospital (now Advent Health) in Glendale, CA, and then Columbia Union College (now Washington Adventist University) in Maryland where she completed her bachelor's degree. She went on to earn a master’s degree from Medical College of Georgia followed by a nurse practitioner’s degree from University of Florida, and finally, a Doctor of Nursing degree from the University of Tennessee.
In 1972, she received her most cherished gift in life - her daughter, Jerilyn Marie Johnson. Though the union that blessed her with her only child ultimately ended, mother and daughter were forever bonded as a dynamic duo; two peas in a pod to the very end.
Flora began her nursing career teaching at Howard University in 1973 before returning to the South to join the faculty at Oakwood College. These were joyful years as she and Jerilyn, accompanied by her mother, Jerry, were reunited with her brother, Kermit and his young family who were also living and working at Oakwood. Tippy and her new sissy (Kermit’s wife Fran), could regularly be found lunching at their favorite Mexican buffet, El Palacio, or zipping around town shopping and running errands with their girls in the back of Tippy’s red-orange Datsun hatchback.
Her joy was soon multiplied when she met and married the love of her life, Winslow Flood, with whom she shared 34 beautiful years until his passing in 2018.
Tippy soon received and accepted a call to work for Advent Health, and with Winslow and Jerilyn by her side, they relocated to Orlando, FL. There, she served as a floor nurse in OB and then as Director of Women's Health Centers for Advent Health for more than a decade until, once again, she was asked to return to teach in Oakwood’s Nursing Department. In addition to serving at Oakwood, she also lent her expertise to the practice of one of Huntsville's most prominent high-risk OB-GYNs, Dr. Hugh Bailey. Dr. Flood served tirelessly as a nurse practitioner, educator, and mentor for more than 40 years, retiring from Oakwood University as Dean of the School of Nursing and Health Professions in 2016. Throughout her career, she mentored hundreds of nursing students and professionals and provided compassionate, excellent care to countless women.
From her youth, Flora was a faithful member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, serving in various capacities, including as an ordained elder at the Mt. Sinai SDA Church in Orlando. She was also devoted to providing Jerilyn with a Seventh-day Adventist Christian education from early childhood through college.
After retirement and Winslow's passing, Tippy and Jerilyn returned to warm and sunny Tampa, Florida, to be near the beach Tippy so loved. Her final decade was full of life — boating trips, fishing outings with Jerilyn and Cousin Vivian, visits to Busch Gardens for the wildlife, and dinners on the waterfront at their favorite Greek restaurant. At home, she found joy in word games, studying her Bible, reading, and cuddling with her fur babies.
As her health began to decline in recent years, her baby girl Jerilyn never left her side, devoting herself completely to her mother’s comfort and care. Flora took her final earthly rest at home on June 3, 2026, and now awaits Christ’s second coming.
Flora is preceded in death by her mother, Geraldine Banks Ogburn; her father, Benjamin Carter; and her husband, Winslow Flood. She is survived by her only child and beloved daughter, Jerilyn Johnson Kilpatrick (Terence); her baby brother Kermit and his wife, her “sissy-in-love,” Francine; nieces Kimberly Sullivan and Kelli Dulan (Stanton); great nephew Carter Sullivan; great nephew Stanton “Dooley” Dulan, II; great nieces, Zahra, Zoe, and Zeniyah Dulan; first cousin, Vivian Nesbitt; a host of extended cousins, many of her beloved OCA classmates, cherished colleagues, and friends.
Memorial Services:
Florida
Officiant – Pastor Jeff Crain
Huntsville
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