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Friday's Internet Edition, July 25, 2008.
Area Business and Civic Leader dies of cancer
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Floyd Clay Anderson, age 58, the owner of Floyd Anderson Chevrolet-Buick, Inc. of Campton, Kentucky died last Friday evening, July 6, 2007 after an extended battle with cancer. Floyd passed away at the Markey Cancer Center in Lexington. He leaves behind a wife, Linda Strange Anderson, two daughters and a host of relatives and friends.
Floyd Anderson Chevrolet-Buick was a frequent advertiser in the Three Forks Tradition and a friend to the Lee/Wolfe County community as well as Powell County and his hometown of Stanton. Floyd was a business and civic leader and an enthusiastic supporter of the Natural Bridge State Park. After graduating from the University of Kentucky he served as Business Manager of the Park and has long been a member of the Natural Bridge Park Association’s Board of Directors.
With a degree in Political Science Floyd has kept a visible profile in the Kentucky political scene for many years and particularly in this area. He was a friend of the governors and the current Powell County Chairman of the Democratic party, but his commitment to the people went much deeper than politics and this is where our friendship began.
Floyd wanted to improve the quality of life for people of this region. More importantly, he put his money where his mouth was an extended a helping hand to numerous organizations and causes that he felt would make our county and others a better place to live. The projects and causes he helped finance in Lee County were numerous and covered a span from 1997 to the present. It would be impossible to remember them all, but it is easy to recall some of them. For the last several years Floyd Anderson Chevrolet-Buick sponsored the Lee County Woolly Worm Festival Car Show. This sponsorship requires a substantial cash outlay, but Floyd loved cars and he loved good food, particularly seafood. He jokingly insisted that the only reason he sponsored the car show was to ensure his invitation to share the seafood gumbo with the Woolly Worm Festival Committee on the setup night before the Festival. The delicious meal has been prepared annually for the committee by Farm Bureau agent, Rick Johnson. Floyd loved that gumbo. At the Natural Bridge Park Association Dinner meeting each year in October Floyd would compliment the meal and almost automatically ask, “Bob when are we eating gumbo?” It’s difficult to believe he won’t be at either gathering this year.
When the Lee County Fireworks committee fired off their largest Fourth of July fireworks show ever last week, Floyd Anderson was one of the sponsors as he has been for several years. To support the Three Forks Historical Center he paid for the fish for the museum’s Fish Fry a number of times.
Upon a number of occasions he provided cars for some of the local royalty at the Beattyville Kiwanis Club Homecoming and the Woolly Worm Festival parade. When the Festival and Homecoming were said and done Floyd invariably helped this newspaper sponsor the many photographs we featured. The same was true for the Lee County High School prom and the High School Seniors Pictorial. Floyd was a great basketball fan and always willing to sponsor the photographic record of the 56th District Tournament.
The generosity of Floyd Anderson was never more evident than a couple of years ago when we were trying to raise the money to pay for World War II Survivors Medallions for Lee County’s living World War II veterans. The medallions commemorated the completion of the World War II Memorial in Washington D.C. and required a cash outlay of well over a thousand dollars. We had hoped to convince a few of our advertisers and benefactors to cosponsor the purchase and distribution of the medallions. Floyd listened patiently to my request and said, “I’ll do it.” He never asked anyone else to share the expense. He simply said “I’ll do it.” The medallions were presented on Veteran’s Day and it was a special moment for Veterans and for the county.
Additional information about Floyd Clay Anderson may be found on today’s obituary page. He was our friend and we are going to miss him.
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On-line publication, Copyright 2005, The Three Forks Tradition.
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