He was born on December 7, 1915 in Carrollton, Missouri. He died on January 20, 2012, in Tallahassee.
For the 96 years that fell between, Floyd experienced a life as full as any man could hope for. Early adulthood was defined by the Great Depression, with limited opportunities for a quick mind, strong work ethic but no substantive education, so Floyd joined the Army in 1935. History marked his 26th birthday with the Japanese attack on him and his compatriots at Clark Field in the Philippine Islands on December 8, 1941. The B-17-equipped 19th Bomb Group was a prime military target. Floyd, along with General MacArthur and a few other key personnel were the fortunate soldiers who escaped from Bataan only hours ahead of the Japanese advance, the subsequent surrender of the remaining U.S. forces there, and the cruel and deadly Bataan Death March into Japanese POW camps. They made it to Java where they soon had another close escape before eventually making it to Australia. Floyd remained in Australia for almost a year and his unit participated in the famous naval Battle of the Coral Sea. He returned to the U.S. in 1943, as one of World War II's earliest heroes. The handsome Captain soon met and married Bernice Elizabeth Marshall, a beautiful, educated and aristocratic lady from Mississippi. For a Missouri farm boy, Floyd felt he had married up. Despite a subsequent unaccompanied tour on Tinian Island to work on the bombers delivering the atom bomb, Floyd found himself at war's end with two lovely daughters. But his next assignment once again placed him in history's wake as he returned to the Pacific where drone aircraft he'd help develop were flown through the mushroom clouds of exploded hydrogen bombs over Enewetak atoll. In 1952 Bernice became pregnant with their third child and Floyd was reassigned half way around the globe to the American embassy in France. The couple's first son was born in Paris.In 1955, shortly after the birth of their second son in Paris, the family returned to the United States. By the end of 1958, Floyd had decided to retire from the Air Force as a Lt. Colonel and the family settled on a quiet little college town in North Florida as the perfect place to finish raising their four children. Floyd finished his Masters in Education at Florida State and did substantial doctoral work before taking a dual position teaching classes at both the university and at the small demonstration school already beginning to be known, unofficially, as Florida High. During Floyd's 20-year tenure at FSU and Florida High, he was teacher and mentor to thousands of college and high school students who remember "Mr. D" to this day as their favorite teacher. For many, he was the one who taught them the truly valuable lessons that they carried through their own lives and handed down to their own children. Floyd always considered himself fortunate for what life had given him and, while not a particularly religious man, he was grateful for the bounty that life had bestowed on him. From humble beginnings in the Depression-devastated American Midwest, he grew into the educated, respected and honored patriarch of a large and still-growing family. After retirement, in addition to continuing his lifelong habit of tinkering with anything mechanical or electrical, he turned to gardening and approached it just as he did everything else in life, methodically and results-oriented. His great success at vegetable gardening made his small but efficient backyard plot a resource for many friends and family. In later years he suffered a massive stroke but amazed the doctors and others by not only surviving but continuing the fight to make do, while remaining in his Tallahassee home with his lovely wife. At Bernice's death in December 2011, after nearly 70 years of marriage and over 96 years of life, Floyd finally began to understand surrender. His family began to see the lively light in his eyes dim as his desire to continue ebbed. Less than two months after Bernice passed away, Floyd joined her, dying peacefully in his sleep.
He is survived by his four children, Gretchen (Mike) Griffin, Roberta (Ron) Ervin, Bruce (Linda) Deterding and Marty Deterding; 13 grandchildren, Timmy (Angie) Harrell of Tallahassee, Melissa (Mike) McDaniel of Palatka, David Porter of Palatka and Holly (John) Crawford of San Diego, Laura (Dan) Gross of Miramar, John Ervin of Tallahassee, Jessica (Chi) Ervin-Hang of San Francisco, Justin Deterding of Tallahassee, Aaron Deterding of Denver, Sasha Deterding, Dalila Deterding and Rebecca Deterding all of Tallahassee; 8 great grandchildren, Chase and Hayden Harrell of Tallahassee, Andrea McDaniel of Palatka, Ava Crawford of San Diego, Kyle and Savannah Gross of Miramar, John and Kelly Ervin of Tallahassee.
Funeral Service will be held Wednesday January 25, 2012 at 2:00 p.m. from Culley's MeadowWood Timberlane Chapel 700 Timberlane Road where they will conclude (850) 893-4177. Visitation will be just prior to the service and burial will be at Roselawn Cemetery.
Arrangements are under the direction of Culley's MeadowWood Funeral Home, Tallahassee, FL.
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