Floyd Clarence Strom

St. Peter called out that the hinges on the Pearly Gates were squeaking and sagging, and Floyd left for his final Mr. Fixit mission on 25 April 2020. Floyd was born to Fred and Della Strom, in Dickinson, TX, on 10 February 1923. He was the 4th of their 5 children. At 97 Floyd was the longest-lived male Strom that we know of in this branch of the family. He was preceded in death by his parents Fred and Della, his brothers Ardes and Leo, his sisters Ruby and Dorothy, and his son John. He is survived by his wife of 73 years, Mary, his son Charles (Chuck) and wife Pam, his grandson Will, and a host of nieces and nephews.

Floyd graduated from high school and enlisted in the Army Air Force during World War II. He was selected for pilot training and flew C-47’s for ATC in the south Pacific. While he was in Nashville, TN after the war, he met Mary Enoch, out on a blind date with friends. Their first official date was to a dance on New Year’s Eve at the end of 1945, and they married 16 December 1946…….starting the beginning of a 73+ year union. Floyd enrolled to study civil engineering at Vanderbilt in Nashville. After his graduation in 1950 he accepted a job in Corpus Christi with a company that was then known as Atlantic Refining, and he and Mary and their first son Chuck moved to Corpus. From Corpus (where their second son John was born) they were transferred to Tulsa, OK, then to Lafayette, LA, and to Dallas, Tx in 1961. Although he was home based in the Dallas office, he worked on several major construction jobs through the years, including Prudhoe Bay, and the Trans-Alaskan pipeline. For three years he worked in Seattle and Alaska, commuting back to Dallas on the weekends. He retired from ARCO as Director of Construction, in 1985.

Growing up on a farm, during the Great Depression, forever imprinted on Floyd a distaste for waste, or needlessly discarding something that could potentially be refurbished/reused/repurposed. He was a product of the era when things were expensive (and hard to get), money was tight, and it just was not acceptable to throw stuff away. He had an uncanny knack for being able to repair pretty much anything (other than computers…..he never developed a taste for computers). Plumbing (specializing in commodes, leaky faucets, and slow drains), fences/gates, doors, cabinets, appliances, electrical outlets and switches, lights, heaters, bicycles, skateboards, lawn mowers, cars…….these were just a few of his virtually unlimited repair capabilities. He never met a stranger, and in his heyday, he was taking care of all kinds of repairs for neighbors in about a 4 block radius of their Hanover home of 50 years. Usually when he was involved in a repair, or new installation job, there were subtle modifications made that resulted in the repaired device being better than it had ever been originally. It would wind up stronger…….faster……straighter……more useful……or capable of doing something that it couldn’t do before. Something about the repaired device was typically just going to be better, simply because he had laid his hands on it…….a factor that we referred to as “The Floyd Effect”. His mindset forever was that “If this shop can’t fix it …..it ain’t broke”. One of the side effects of his repairing devices for neighbors and friends was that when a new replacement part was needed to make a repair, after the job was completed, the old parts came back home with him and took up residence in the garage……awaiting autopsy, and/or re-deployment on some unknown future repair jobs. An unsuspecting person might look inside his garage, which after 50 years was completely stacked with “stuff”, from the floor to up above the ceiling joists, and think “Oh my……..how can he possibly know what is there?” But until he was about 93, if you asked for something, or he thought that he needed something that he had in “inventory”, he would disappear into the nether regions of the garage, and emerge with it shortly. There was no obvious pattern to anyone on how he kept up with stuff……..that was part of the mystery, and he alone was able to keep track of what was where.

For years he volunteered with the Habitat for Humanity house builds. He carried an entire assortment of tools in the trunk of his ’96 Cadillac DeVille, just to handle the “what ifs” that would arise during those construction projects. He was the guy who usually ran the chop saw, cutting lumber to length. He was amazed at the number of people who were unable (or unsure of how) to read a tape measure, and give him dimensions in inches and fractions of an inch. They would come to him with the tape extended and clasped between their thumb and forefinger, and say they needed a piece “this long”. After a little coaching from Floyd, these folks quickly (re)learned how fractions work in the grand scheme of measuring lengths. Floyd also told fond tales of working with a gentleman with a penchant for giving dimensions in centimeters and millimeters. That did not faze Floyd, as he had measuring tapes dual marked in both inches and centimeters, and he and “Metric Mike” shared stories and got along infamously well.

Through the years four footed companions were an important part of Floyd’s family. Betsy, Woofer, Rusty, and Heidi all made their way into Floyd’s life, and after his retirement (until Mary retired), Heidi was an inseparable companion. The neighbors would report that they had seen Floyd (with Heidi in his lap) out in the car, and Heidi appeared to be driving.

Floyd’s sweet tooth was well known to all, and his consumption of all flavors of Oreo cookies and jelly beans was legend. He doted on Mary’s homemade pecan pie, topped off with a generous serving of Blue Bell Vanilla Bean ice cream. One of his favorite sweatshirts was one inscribed “I survived the great Blue Bell famine of 2015”. His philosophy was that even an old shoe would taste great, if enough Blue Bell was slathered on it.

Floyd and Mary were active in the Highland Park Presbyterian Church for over 60 years, and they treasured the fellowship and spiritual guidance that the church provided them. Floyd will be laid to rest in the Strom family plot in the Forest Park East Cemetery in Webster, Tx.

The family extends its grateful thanks for the ongoing efforts of Ms. Carolyn, Emma, Gloria, and Donna, the team of four caregivers who have lovingly looked after the health and safety of both Floyd and Mary for the last three years.

In lieu of flowers the family requests that you consider a contribution to the Alzheimer's Association, the American Cancer Society, or the charity of your choice.