HUFFSTETTLER, Tommy Floyd 1935-1994

HUFFSTETTLER, FLOYD, FREESE

Posted By: County Coordinator
Date: 3/15/2012 at 23:40:18

Tommy Floyd Huffstettler

Tommy Floyd Huffstettler, 58, of 110 South Hawkeye, Nora Springs, died Sunday, May 1, 1994 at Heritage Care Center, Mason City.

Funeral services were held at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Christian Church, 102 North Hawkeye, Nora Springs, with the Rev. William H. Green officiating. Burial was in Park Cemetery, Nora Springs, with military honors provided by American Legion Post 449.

Tommy Floyd Huffstettler was born June 5, 1935, in Nora Springs, a son of Richard and Hilda (Freese) Huffstettler. He was the youngest of two children.

He received his education in the Nora Springs public schools, graduating in 1953.

Tommy Floyd had a very exciting career. At the age of 15, he was one of the country’s youngest disc jockeys, with his own daily radio personality show on numerous radio stations throughout the Midwest.

At the age of 18, he had his own daily hour-long TV show on KGLO-TV in Mason City called Triangle
Ranch and he also appeared regularly on Bart’s Clubhouse.

He was called into the Army for two years which he spent entertaining troops in 55 foreign countries with the World Touring Army Show. While in New York, he performed on the Ed Sullivan show and the Jimmy Dean show.

From New York, Tommy went to Hollywood, where he performed on several shows and nightspots.
He appeared on the TV series, “Have Gun, Will Travel” and “The Rebel” and also in four country music movies with Tex Ritter. With music being his first love, he left California and headed for Nashville.

Soon he was performing with numerous Grand Ole Opry acts (Hank Snow, Tex Ritter, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Hawkshaw Hawkins, Roy Clark, Jimmie Dickens and many others). He was one of Loretta Lynn’s first show members, along with her brother, Jay Lee Webb, and he performed with the Statler Brothers Show.

While in Nashville, Tommy originated his “Flight Leadsheet Services,” a music company which furnished leadsheets and arrangements for publishing and recording companies nationwide. As a columnist, Tommy has written a great number of stories and articles for “Music City News,” “Country Music Parade,” “Country Song Roundup,” “Cowboy Songs” and other publications. Along with Dolly Parton, Tom T. Hall, Dallas Frazier and Harlan Howard, Tommy organized the Nashville Songwriters Association. To date, NSA has thousands of members worldwide.

Tommy had toured in all 50 states and each Canadian province. He had performed for Presidents Nixon, Carter, Reagan and Clinton, as well as for the Duke of Windsor and the Queen of England. Tommy had also appeared on Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show with Tex Ritter and the Statler Brothers on the Phil Donahue Show.

Tommy recorded the record “Nothing’s Ever New in Nora Springs,” along with several other recordings. He will always be remembered for being a kind, compassionate and loving person, interested in everyone and everything.

Survivors include his mother, Hilda Huffstettler, Nora Springs; one daughter, Anitra Joy Floyd Methvin and her husband, Robert, Hermitage, Tenn.; one son, Arlen Jesse Floyd, Nashville, Tenn.; one sister, Joretta (Jean) Buehler and her husband, Robert, Garland, Texas; one niece, Janet Alber and her husband, Steve, Des Moines; one nephew, Gregory Buehler, and wife, Tanya, Garland, Texas; and grandnieces and grandnephews, Ashley Nicole Buehler, Garland Texas, and Brad and Nancy Alber of Des Moines; and many other relatives and friends.

He was preceded in death by his father, Dick Huffstettler, who died in 1955.

[Nora Springs Advertiser – 04 May 1994]
(Transcribed by Barb Nagy)
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SOCIAL SECURITY DEATH INDEX:

First Name: Floyde
Middle Name: T.
Last Name: Huffstettler
Birth Date: 5 June 1935
Social Security Number: ***-**-9403
Place of Issuance: Iowa
Last Residence: Nora Springs, Floyd, Iowa
Zip Code of Last Residence: 50458
Death Date: 1 May 1994
Estimated Age at Death: 59