Dr. John H. Floyd was born in Thomaston, GA on Friday the 13th of July, 1928, and passed away in Springfield, MO on February 7, 2026, at the age of 97.

John's father had a PhD in History and was the beloved head of the History Department at Bethany Peniel College in Bethany, OK, where John grew up a block away. His mother was a stay-at-home mother who managed the household through the Great Depression of the 1920-30s. He had two younger sisters, one of whom died very young.

John never graduated from high school due to "the war to end all wars" where he served in the Japan Occupation Forces as a medic and chaplain's assistant. After the war he returned to his hometown of Bethany, OK and entered the pre-med program at the college. After he returned home, while strutting around the campus in his uniform (very smooth!), he met the new college nurse, Betty June Whitley. It apparently wasn't love at first sight as her friends swore she asked, "who's that chubby guy?" He later admitted he'd put on a few pounds working in the Tokyo military hospital. However, fate intervened and they fell in love and were married in June 1952. Nine months and seven days later in 1953, their son Marvin was born.

While studying in medical school at the University of Oklahoma School of Medicine, Betty worked at the local Children's Convalescent Hospital. After John graduated, they moved to the small town of Comanche, OK where he was a general practitioner. After a year, he and a group of other doctors built a hospital in the neighboring town of Duncan, OK. John and Betty's daughter, Marla, was born there shortly after the hospital opened in 1956. After a couple more years as a GP, he decided to specialize in radiology, because, as he said, there aren't as many late night and weekend calls for radiologists in most hospitals.

John was accepted at the University of Colorado in Denver. He chose CU so he could learn to snow ski. However, after taking care of a dozen or so bad ski injuries while working the first weekend of his residency, he dropped the idea of learning to ski. While at CU in 1959, his daughter Marcia was born and the family was complete, for a time.

After graduating from CU in 1959, he accepted a partnership in Ft. Collins, CO where he practiced for two years. From there, he and the family moved to Enid, OK, to be closer to his parents and sister. In 1963, they moved to Scottsbluff to be closer to Betty's family. In 1967, Michial Stauffer came to live with the family. After the closure of St. Mary Hospital in Scottsbluff, John became a regional doctor and practiced in Alliance, Chadron, and several other hospitals in western Nebraska and eastern Wyoming, as needed. Oddly enough, the state medical board in Wyoming didn't want to allow him to practice medicine there because he'd not finished high school. Apparently eight years of medical school and more than twenty years in practice weren't enough. However, after negotiations, and references were provided, he was allowed to practice.

John and Betty were very active in their church and John took two extended trips, working in mission hospitals in Swaziland, Africa and Papua New Guinea. After "retirement" he traveled to several states in the US, working temporary relief. In total, he practiced full- and part-time medicine for over 50 years. During his travels he visited all 50 of the United States and 18 foreign countries.

In addition to their three children, Marvin, Marla, Marcia, and foster son Michial, John and Betty (called Mamsie) had 8 grandchildren, Georgia, Erin, Virginia, Kris, Amy, Zachary, Alyssa, and Benji; 14 great-grandchildren; and 2 great-great-grandchildren. Papa, as he was called by all the grandkids, loved spending time with them whenever possible.

John was an accomplished woodworker, having spent countless hours in Duane High's woodshop across the street. John, Don and Mark Overman, and Dick Duncan made countless trips to Denver Bronco games, having had season tickets together for 30+ years. One night on the way home during a blizzard, the four amigos spent a night in an Air Force missile command silo in northeast Colorado. He attended 5 Super Bowl games, including John Elway's final game. In addition to the Broncos, the Rockies, OU football and DU hockey, he loved water skiing, traveling, camping, pheasant hunting and fishing. He had an amazing memory for sports statistics, and said that if he hadn't become a doctor, he would have been a sports announcer.

In April of 2012, Betty passed away following a severe stroke three years earlier. John was at her bedside until her passing. The following year he married Leota Thomson, and moved to Springfield, NE, then Springfield, MO, where he passed away February 7, 2026.

John taught his children to have a high work ethic, to adapt to change, be active in the community, to travel, get a good education, to never stop learning, and to be very inquisitive. He will be greatly missed, but everyone is very thankful he's out of the pain and nightmares of his last few months, following a pair of strokes. He's now happy in Heaven with Mamsie, his family, and all the wonderful friends he outlived.

John was preceded in death by his wife, Betty; his parents, Dr. William (Fred) and Lillian Floyd; and his sisters, Rachel and Mary Alice.

Memorial services will be held on Monday, April 20, 2:00pm, at Bethany First Church of the Nazarene in the Chapel in the Round. The service will be livestreamed and may be viewed on this obituary page.