Thomas Larry Floyd

Tom Floyd was born in Bergman, Arkansas in 1932 on his grandfather Lankford’s farm. His parents Edith Lankford Floyd and Charles K Floyd took Tom and his older brother Charles to Arizona where his father found work on the Arizona irrigation canals during the Great Depression.  The young family moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma where work was available in the aircraft factories during World War II.   After the war the family moved to a small farm in Harmon, Arkansas where Tom attended school through the eighth grade.

Tom attended and graduated from high school at School of the Ozarks in Missouri.  His education at the University of Arkansas was interrupted by two years of service in the U.S. Army.  After basic training and further training in the Army signal school, Tom was stationed for one year in Germany. He served in the 9th Signal Co., of the 9th Infantry Division. Like other young men of his generation the military was a defining point in Tom’s life.

Tom lived and worked for a time in Wichita, Kansas where his parents were again working in aircraft factories building B 47 bombers.  He transferred college credits from Wichita State and graduated from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.

Tom began his long career as a civilian civil service employee of the US Government.  His first job was in hospital management on Army bases in Texas.  He transferred to Washington DC and began working for the Department of Interior in personnel management.

During his long career in Washington DC Tom was involved in trail building and trail easements for the Appalachian Trail and other spur trails in the Virginia area. He was a volunteer and leader for the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club (PATC). His trail activity resulted in authoring two books, “Lost Trails and Forgotten People” and “Diary of a Trail”, both published by the PATC.  Do an internet search and view the “Tom Floyd Wayside” on the Appalachian Trail.  It is still in use as a camping shelter by hikers on the trail.

His vacation time was spent in Arizona where Tom developed a love and fascination of Grand Canyon. He did multiple back county backpacking expeditions of 9 to 20 day durations. His accomplishments resulted in Tom being one of the first few to thru-hike the entire Grand Canyon National Park by 1974.  His hikes in Grand Canyon inspired his nieces and nephews to “think big” and “go long” on the travels and adventures of their lives.

Early retirement found Tom living a few yards from the Appalachian Trail in Virginia in a cabin with an outdoor privy.  The cycle of life brought Tom back to a resort in northeast Oklahoma and then to the old family house at Harmon, Arkansas bought by his parents after World War II.  As time passed, Tom spent less and less time in any house as he traveled far and wide across North America.  He lived in travel trailers, pick-up campers and finally in his trailerable house boat that doubled as a camping trailer or lake cruiser.  His buddies on his travels were his succession of beloved dogs: MD, King George and Largo.  

His final travels found him living proudly as a “full timer” with no house and no real address.  In Arizona, the state of his youth, he would follow the seasons and weather camping in his suv with Largo.  Age and time brought Tom again to Tulsa, Oklahoma to be near relatives in an assisted living facility, his final camp.  At age 93, Tom broke camp and moved on, continuing his travels. Undoubtably, Tom is again somewhere in Grand Canyon hiking down the trail.

Services at Fayetteville National Cemetery are private.