JOHNSON, Floyd C.
JOHNSON, BARNHILL, TRUE, PICKENS
Posted By: Sharon R Becker (email)
Date: 3/22/2018 at 22:35:08
Obituary ~ Floyd C. Johnson
December 30, 1921 ~ January 03, 2016The Globe Gazette
Mason City, Cerro Gordo County, Iowa
January 06, 2016MASON CITY -- Floyd C. Johnson, 94, of Mason City, IA, died Sunday, January 3, 2016, at the Muse Norris Hospice Inpatient Unit due to complications from Lewy Body Dementia. Private family services will be held at a later date. Interment will take place in Memorial Park Cemetery.
Floyd was was born Dec. 30, 1921, at Rockwell, Iowa to Ethan and Edna (Barnhill) Johnson. His family moved to Mason City in 1922, where he became a lifelong resident. He liked to brag that he grew up in the North End, last street, last house. He graduated from Mason City High School in 1939. Floyd was very athletic. He wrestled varsity, but did it one weight class heavier than himself.
At age 16, adults discovered Floyd's softball skills. He became a paid pitcher for men's fast pitch. Over the years, his teams won many city championships, and he pitched in state tournaments. The back seat of Floyd's car held different uniforms. He played up to three games for various teams in a single day. Later, he was inducted into the River City Softball Hall of Fame. While there, he was pictured in The Globe Gazette, contributing checks for the many Mason City softball diamonds.
During WWII, Floyd served in the Airforce in Puerto Rico. He was classified a parachute rigger, but was really the Airforce softball team pitcher. When the navy pulled into port, he switched uniforms and pitched for them! He was Honorably Dischaged in 1945.
Home from war, he married his childhood sweetheart, the girl on his newspaper delivery route. Mary Lois True and he went to Pipestone, Minnesota to get hitched in 1946.
Floyd was a member of Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Mason City for many decades, where he was a fixture as an usher.
Post-war, he was an upholsterer and mattress maker. He eventually joined Sears Roebuck as shipping manager, where he worked for 35 years until 1987. For another ten years, until age 90, he helped with his son's internet business.
Floyd liked to work with the aspiring pitchers for the Mason City and Newman High School girls softball teams. He spent many enjoyable years watching the Mohawks.
He was a lifetime member of the VFW in Mason City. His proudest moment was with the WWII Winnebago Honor Flight trip to Washington, DC in 2010. Floyd was a champion cribbage player.
Survivors include his wife Mary L. Johnson of Mason City, his son, Craig L. Johnson of Beijing, China, and a sister, Marvyl Rose Pickens of Culver City, CA.
He was preceded in death by his parents, and two brothers, Orville E. Johnson of Mason City, and Glenn R. Johnson of Clear Lake.
The family would like to thank Hospice for the compassionate care given Floyd while at home and their Inpatient Unit.
Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, March of 2018
Cerro Gordo Obituaries maintained by Lynn Diemer-Mathews.
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