1916 – 2016

FARMINGTON — Emily Carolyn Floyd, devoted wife, mother and community member, died peacefully after a brief stay at Franklin Memorial Hospital on Tuesday, Jan. 12.

She was born on Oct. 25, 1916, in Colebrook, N.H., the third child of nine of Alpheus and Catherine Martin Frizzell. She has shared many happy memories over the years of growing up on the farm, where in the winter she skied 5 miles to a one-room school.

After graduating from Colebrook Academy in 1934, she attended Maine General Hospital School of Nursing in Portland, receiving her diploma in 1938. She served as a floor nursing supervisor there from 1938 to 1940. It was while working at MaineGeneral that she met her beloved husband, Paul E. Floyd, MD, who was doing his internship there. They were married on June 15, 1940, and subsequently moved to Farmington in 1946. Emily was Paul’s ophthalmological surgical assistant for the 30 years he was in practice.

Along with raising her four children, she became an active volunteer devoted to making her community a better place. She was a Cub Scout den mother, 4-H leader, and led the junior choir at Henderson Memorial Baptist Church for 18 years. She was the Franklin County chairwoman for Margaret Chase Smith’s re-election campaign in 1960. She and Sen. Smith shared a close personal relationship until the senator’s death in 1995.

She served on the school board (of which she became chairwoman) in the 1960s, during a period of great transition. She was a member of the governor’s advisory council on education and the state school board.

She was active in the American Red Cross, Maine Cancer Society, Franklin Memorial Hospital board of trustees and the auxiliary and was the hospital development fund chairwoman in 1982-83.

Other interests included the garden club, Cutler Memorial Library, Farmington Historical Society, the United Way and the Nordica Memorial Association. She served on the Board of Selectmen from 1996 to 1998 and was a member of the Budget Committee for many years.

She received many honors over the years, including the 1983 Achievement Citation Award from the Maine Division of the American Association of University Women, Farmington Outstanding Citizen for 1983, Rotary Community Service Award in 1999 and the Farmington Gem Award.

In later years, she attended Shorey Chapel in Industry, where she served as organist and music director and continued to enjoy singing in the choir.

In short, if there was a job that needed doing in Farmington, she was there to do it and she loved every minute of it.

Emily’s favorite place was the camp on Clearwater Lake, where she delighted in spending time with her family and friends, preferably with a gin and tonic in hand.

She is survived by her brother, Clarence Frizzell; and her four children, Carl of East Lyme, Conn., and his partner, Helene Anderson, David and wife, Bets Cole, of Elmira, Ore., Brian of Portland, Ore., Penney and husband, Chuck Lakin, of Waterville; and four grandchildren, Lynne and husband, Peter Crizer, Rebecca and husband, Brian Perchal, and Nicholas and McKenzie Floyd; and many nieces and nephews.

She was predeceased by her husband; and seven of her eight siblings.

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