Floyd was a very good friend. We had known him since coming to the village of Torre del Compte 9½ years ago. In that period we had spent a lot of time together either at various social occasions, attending Spanish language lessons or just visiting each other for a cup of tea and a chat.
Although
he often said he did not like public speaking he accompanied us on
several presentations we made to mature Spanish students learning
English. We dealt with such topics as “Folklore, Myths and Legends”
and “The secrets of the U.S.A.” (in our case, "The U.K.") In order to make the presentation
more interesting we were going to use PowerPoint and although at the
time he was not familiar with this, he mastered the technique in no
time producing some really interesting pieces. However, on one
occasion when his throat wasn't that strong he apologised to the
group explaining that he was “a little hoarse”. I am sure that
the group learning English may have been rather confused by this
statement. (Hoarse/horse).
Floyd
loved social occasions not only for the food that was on offer but
mainly for the opportunity to be able to talk to anyone and to be
with friends. One of his most amazing characteristics was his ability
to tell a story involving some incident in the past and as the years
progressed many of us had heard the same stories several times but
they were always entertaining. However, if his story was interrupted
he had the ability to be able to resume as if there had not been a
break. If any topic came up in conversation you could bet that Floyd
would have a story to tell and it would be entertaining.
We
shall all certainly miss Floyd and going through the social occasions
in the village without him is going to be difficult for everyone. One
of his favourite opportunities to wear costume was on Hallowe'en when
he made his annual appearance as Dracula. It wouldn't surprise us if
we saw him again this year as he loved it so much!
One of Floyd's hobbies was crochet and he produced many memorable pieces such as this shawl for our friend Carmen.
We
used to take it in turns to drive to the Spanish language class in
the nearby town of Valderrobres some 15 minutes away. When it was our
turn to drive we would pick him up at the village crossroads at the
appointed time. He was always so punctual as he set his watch 5
minutes ahead of time so he would never be late. He would be waiting
at the crossroads with his haversack weighed down with loads of
books, we only ever used 1 during the lesson, but he had to have all
of his Spanish books just in case and of course he always carried an
umbrella, not that it ever rained, but this was also just in case.
Another
characteristic of Floyd was that wherever he was going or whatever he
was doing he would always be appropriately dressed for the occasion.
For the presentation to the Spanish students for example he would
wear one of his suits with a white shirt and his “Stars and
Stripes” tie to show he was from the U.S.A. He even bought me 2
“Union Jack” ties and Margaret a “Union Jack” scarf to wear
as we are from the U.K. For social events again he would be dressed
in a smart way. One of Floyd's biggest features was his hair which
was always groomed to perfection in it's own inimitable style.
Floyd loved dressing in costume on several occasions. In the photo above he is with Margaret when he starred as "Lena Morgan" in a performance for the Amas de Casa, the Association of Housewives, in the village...
...and this time as the "Black Queen" with Margaret as the "White Queen" and me as the "White King" when we did a fancy dress performance with the peña during the summer fiesta a few years ago.
Another year the peña performed as majorettes for the fiesta fancy dress.
Despite
being in Torre del Compte he was able to keep in touch with his
family and friends around the world not just with emails but he would
talk for hours on the phone via his “magic jack”. When he was ill
and receiving treatment he kept everyone updated on his “Adventure”
by a series of newsletters. He got up to number 35. These would
always be a blow by blow account of his treatment but with many a
humorous observation thrown in as he continued to see the lighter
side of his condition. On reaching the age of 70 he said that if he
had known he was going to live that long he would have taken better
care of his body!
This photo was taken for what was to become Floyd's last Christmas - we all wore Santa hats as Floyd had lost his hair as part of his treatment.
However, Floyd's hair started to grow back and this photo was taken on the 29th March just 1 month before he died.
Floyd
was a very good friend who will be greatly missed but we have many
happy memories of our times together to remember him by.
