Joseph B. Floyd

  Joseph Beacher Floyd has gathered up his catch and pulled up to the dock one last time on February 29, 2024. Leaving behind these earthly bounds, he now sits with his Heavenly Father, joining his parents George and Mary Floyd, younger brother Stephen Thomas and older brother Hal.

  He married his love Mary Everhart on May 27, 1955, and they have three children, Joseph Randell, Kelly Dawn and Scott Edwin.

  Born on December 5, 1935, at home in Holden beach NC, he was raised in Highpoint, but kissed by the mouth of the Cape Fear river. Having a large family presence in and around Southport and along the Brunswick county coast, he had salt water in his blood and a passion for fishing.

  Leaving high school early to join the Coast Guard, Joe spent the bulk of his service on the lightship Relief, relieving other lightships off the coast of North Carolina for periodic service. He rode out hurricane Hazel stationed at sea, north of landfall but still a harrowing experience. The affinity he had for the Guard was unbounded.

   After leaving the service, he became a butcher around the Highpoint area, eventually working for A&P as a meat market manager. This allowed him to seek a transfer closer to the ocean, so he and Mary take the children and relocate to Wilmington in the early sixties. After a few years DuPont open a plant in Leland and after gaining employment with them, his work ethic and reliability allowing him to rise substantially in the company.

  In 1976 they relocated again, this time to Southport. The following years would consist of mainly one thing , fishing. Catch and release were not in his vocabulary, for the whole reason to go fishing was to eat them. And that he did. Most family gatherings would always include a fish fry, and whatever else was in season. Oystering, clamming, drifting and netting for flounder or making a trip to the black fish rock, Joe would reap the bounties of the ocean and took great pleasure in sharing his catch with whoever was hungry.

  Moving back to Wilmington in the late eighties, he retired from DuPont in the early nineties and finished out his working carrier driving for the local car lots and eventually retiring a final time from Wilmington Rubber and Gasket when he walked away from working for good. He then was allowed to gather other passions, from treasure hunting to being in the pit crew of his grandson’s racing team, his interests were widely varied. He wrote 4 books and delved deeply into history, taking a lot of pleasure in family genealogy. A true son of the south, he was passionate about civil war and North Carolina history, becoming a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

He was an elder at New hope Presbyterian Church for many years, a church his grandfather helped found in the late 1800s. From Sunday school teacher to collecting the offerings, he loved his extended church family and was proud to serve in any aspect where he was needed.

Joe leaves behind to cherish his memory his wife of 68 years Mary, his children Joey (Debbie), Kelly (Gary), Scott (Bonnie). His grandchildren Kim, Daniel, Stephen, Renee and Brian. Two great grandchildren Mason and Theodore and sisters Francis and Bonnie, as well as many nieces and nephews.

“I must go down to the sea again, to the lonely sea and sky,

And all I need is a tall ship and a star to steer her by”