Floyd David Nelson, 87

Feb. 25, 1928 - July 9, 2015

Floyd and his father, mother and brother were farmers from Michigan. Their move to the Pacific Northwest was sometime in his young years. Knute, Floyd's father, worked in Kellogg in the mine, no longer farming. Their last move was to the Coeur d'Alene area and that was where I met Floyd 22 years ago and became his caregiver.

Floyd went to a one-room school house for first grade only, so he didn't know how to read or write or know numbers and had to have someone watching out for him. His parents set up a trust for him at a local bank, and that is how I entered his life.

Floyd had always worked manual labor, even going to southern Idaho to work in the beet fields. His father pinned his name and some money on his shirt and sent him off to pick beets!

When my husband, Michael, asked Floyd where he'd last received a paycheck for his labors he replied, "When that man shot the president."

Floyd lived in our home for the last 17 years and was very content being "on the farm" as we have acreage and raise cows and have a horse. His was a simple life, he only needed a dog for companionship, and all his dogs were named John Wayne, his personal cowboy hero. He only watched the Encore Western Channel on TV and he also loved Gene Autry.

Floyd loved and appreciated nature, trees, flowers, clouds, baby animals of any kind and found almost everything "pretty."

Floyd was a gentle soul and will be remembered as a kind man who loved animals and lovingly cared for them. He saw life through eyes that filtered out the darkness of mankind and was content to be a cowboy at heart.

His heart quit beating here on Earth at age 87 after being down in the barn with Rain, his dog, and Chip, our horse, having a beer with them as he did daily.

We believe he is reunited with all his dogs he so adored and we'll see him again one day too!

Until then your friends, Mike and Mary Martin, bid you a fond farewell.

No service is planned, but we'll have an informal gathering from 3-5 p.m. Thursday, July 30, 2015, at KCWD No. 1 building, 7739 E. Sunnyside Road, Coeur d'Alene. Bring a light snack if you like to share with your neighbors. No alcohol please. Thank you.