John Elmore Floyd
Nassawadox, Virginia
J
BIRTH: May 6, 1954 DEATH: May 5, 2020, age 65
ohn Floyd left an impression. Blind since shortly after his birth, Floyd became one of the Eastern Shore of Virginia’s memorable people while building crab pots for the Day Support Services group of the local Community Services Board. At Exmore’s Shorerafts, which is the Day Support Services store, he formed and wired together crab pots — those baited square traps used by watermen and recreational crabbers to harvest the day’s catch of crustaceans. Beginning in 1974, he made more than 13,000 crab pots without ever having seen one. “He was the crab pot king,” said Mary Anne Davis, his older sister. Floyd had a legendary determination — he liked to recount how, as a child, he rode a bicycle despite his blindness. But the coronavirus and the sickness it causes, called COVID-19, made for an aggressive illness. He died May 5, 2020, after being transferred to a hospital in Newport News. He was 65. He lived at Dogwood View Apartments, a housing community owned and operated by the Community Services Board. “It was a terrible thing for him,” said Davis of COVID-19. “It was so fast. It’s a horrible disease. It just took him.”
Floyd never let his disability impede his life. As a child, he loved walking the family’s dogs and knew all their names. He liked riding horses and listening to rock ’n’ roll music from the 1960s and 1970s. He was a lifelong member of Johnson’s United Methodist Church in Johnsontown, near Machipongo. He enjoyed listening to television westerns of yesteryear, especially “The Rifleman.” And he always remembered everybody’s birthday. “He was wonderful with numbers,” Davis said. In addition to Davis, Floyd is survived by two brothers, William S. and Charles R. Floyd. She said Floyd had a few underlying health issues, and health officials say COVID-19 creates the most problems for those with compromised immune systems. Davis is grateful for the medical help her brother received. “I can’t praise the doctors and nurses enough for keeping us informed,” she said. Floyd was proud of his work at Day Support Services. One day in 2017, day support instructor Kris Lewis looked admiringly at a crab pot he’d just completed. “It’s beautiful, John, as all of them are,” she said. “Thanks,” he said. “I’ve got it down.”
— Written by Ted Shockley