Floyd Lee Washington, Sr.

Biography

Floyd Lee Washington, Sr. was born on December 16, 1922, in Kanawha County, West Virginia, United States of America. His parents were Prince Edward Washington, Sr and Goldie Mae Washington. He was a Cabinetmaker.

Floyd married Emma Johanna Littrell circa 1944 in Kanawha County, West Virginia, USA. Together they had the following children:

• Floyd Lee Washington, Jr;
• Lloyd Ray Washington;
• Cloyd Wayne Washington;
• Cindy Lou Washington (Murphy).

Floyd married Virginia Amanda Proctor circa 1988 in Kanawha, West VA, United States.

He died on October 19, 2011, in Glasgow, Kanawha County, West Virginia, United States of America from Stroke - Body donated to medical science.

The story of Floyd Lee Washington, Sr. (as told by Jeffery Mark Washington - his only living grandson)

I will begin the story of "Big Floyd", as I nicknamed him, due to finding out that his son was also named the same, so to differentiate between the two of them I called him "Big Floyd".

As the story goes, Floyd Lee Washington, Sr. was honorably discharged from the U.S. Navy, and then fell upon hard times, which put him in an awkward position to remove some food from a man's farm to feed his family, somewhere in the WV or NC.

In doing so, the farmer "caught" him and pulled a shotgun on Floyd. He then proceeded to grab a hammer and hit him in the head (in what he would considered self-defense), subduing him. The man unfortunately died of his wounds and therefore he became an instant fugitive of the law.

Floyd was found, and put on the chain gain of North Carolina, in which he ESCAPED and spent the rest of his life in hiding and on the run across the South Eastern United States, and eventually took shelter in the mountains of WV.

This would explain why I never met my grandfather until he was on his deathbed, in which he was still able to speak and tell me this story.

I asked as many questions as I could, one of which was "Are we related to George?". He replied (with a hard thinking, eyebrow-scrinched look) - "I had heard we had family in Virgina". Therefore, grampa did not know, and he died not knowing, which urged me to pick up the pace and find out the truth.

The second most important question I asked was, "What is the best advice you could possible give me, considering your wise old age?", his reply was. "Don't worry about nothin'.... If you've done all you can, at the end of the day, and you can't anything more, ... then don't worry about it."

I consider this the best advice anyone has ever given me in my life, and I still use it till this day.

Floyd Sr. first got hit with a heart attack, and then two years later had a stroke, and then two years after that, passed away, donating his body to science. He worked in the coal mines of WV for an undetermined amount of time.

Floyd Sr. endured some of the hardest living conditions that the WV mountains could muster, and was an avid hunter, and survivalist. One last story about him, was that he didn't get a drivers license until he was in his 70's. Then, one day, he had one beer at bar, got pulled over, and was arrested for drunk driving. When he went to court, the judge asked him if he wanted his license back, and he replied, "Nahh, keep em'."

Biography

Floyd Lee Washington, Sr was born on December 16, 1922, in Kanawha County, West Virginia, USA. His parents were Prince Edward Washington and Goldie Mae Washington. He was a Coal Miner.

He died on October 19, 2011, in Glasgow, Kanawha County, West Virginia, USA from a stroke - Body donated to medical science.

• Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Jul 6 2020, 23:29:52 UTC
  • Reference: FamilySearch Genealogy - SmartCopy: Jul 12 2020, 5:17:25 UTC
• Reference: Ancestry Genealogy - SmartCopy: Jul 12 2020, 6:52:36 UTC