Max W. Floyd

Memorial funeral services for Max W. Floyd, 91, Ottawa, will be held at a later date.
Mr. Floyd died Saturday, Nov. 12, 2011, at Wellsville Retirement Community.
He was born May 11, 1920, in Ottawa, the son of Charley Ralph Floyd and Hazel Tapp Blach Floyd.
He graduated from Ottawa High School in 1937, where he was active in 4-H and F.F.A. Mr. Floyd attended Kansas State College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences, now Kansas State University, for one semester. He also spent three months at national defense school in Wichita in 1941.
Mr. Floyd worked nine months as a bellhop at the Bright Angel Lodge on the south rim of the Grand Canyon, followed by working several months on a section gang of the Santa Fe Railroad in Ottawa and at John Deere Implement in Ottawa. He then took a job at Boeing Aircraft, Wichita. After his active duty military service, Mr. Floyd began working at the United States Post Office in Ottawa for 30 years as a carrier and later as a clerk. He also was a full-time flight instructor at the Ottawa Airport for many years.
On Oct. 22, 1942, Mr. Floyd enlisted in the U.S. Navy. In 1944, he entered flight training, and in December 1945 received his Navy gold wings as an naval aviator. In 1946, he received commission as an Ensign Naval Aviator and then became carrier qualified in SNJ advanced trainer planes on the U.S.S. Ranger. Mr. Floyd also flew the Douglas Dauntless Scout & Dive Bomber, and was trained and qualified in the T.B.M. (torpedo bomber). Mr. Floyd was then assigned to the U.S.S. Randolph and was in the Atlantic, Mediterranean and Caribbean. On May 27, 1947, he was released from active duty and joined the reserve squadron at the naval air station in Olathe. He retired fully from the Navy on June 30, 1973, as a lieutenant commander.
Mr. Floyd was a member of the Pomona United Methodist Church, Association of Naval Aviation, Friends of the Ottawa Airport, Friends of the Ottawa Library, Franklin County Historical Society, Experimental Aircraft Association, Naval Aviation Museum, and National Air & Space Association.
He married Marjorie Arthene Brink on June 22, 1944, in Fort Scott. She preceded him in death Nov. 28, 1988.
He married Laura Jean Hamilton Baker on Dec. 30, 1989. She preceded him in death Nov. 15, 2007.
He was also preceded in death by his parents; two sons, Michael Wayne and Mark Edward; three sisters, Elizabeth Floyd, Hallie Floyd Loman and Charlene Floyd Wren; and a brother, Byron.
Survivors include two sons, Martin Gary and wife Rebecca, Lawrence, and Miles Duane and wife Kathy, Ottawa; a daughter-in-law, Linda Floyd, Ottawa; five grandchildren, Emily Lowrance-Floyd, Stephanie Bacon, Cassandra Henslee, Nick Floyd and Robert Floyd; and two great-grandchildren, Riley Bacon and Taylor Henslee.
The family suggests memorials to Mid-America Hospice of Kansas, Prairie Paws Animal Shelter, or Salvation Army, sent in care of Lamb-Roberts Funeral, 325 S. Hickory, Ottawa, KS 66067.
Online condolences may be sent at lamb-roberts.com.