[br][br]Gary Peter Floan
Gary Peter Floan was born August 19th, 1940 and died March 9, 2015 at the age of 74. He was a star that burned bright. He is survived by his daughter, Michelle M Floan; his son, Erik M Floan; his grandson, Derek A B Floan; and his son-in-law, Anthony M Nakane, and his extensive family.
As a young child, Gary P Floan took to sports after an injury at 5 years of age left him in a cast for a year. He broke his hip and it wasn't healing properly so eventually his father, Leonard K Floan, requested that the cast be removed. One might say that it was a miracle that after the cast was removed, his hip healed completely and my father went outside and began practicing the sports that he loved. Unknown to most, even his closest friends, the first sport my father began with was gymnastics. He worked out with a college student on the trampoline. I learned about his tumbling one day when we were at our friends, the Milot's pool, and my father started doing flips off the diving board. He explained where he learned these magic tricks.
My father was an exceptional athlete. He was a football quarterback and received offers to play quarterback in college. He was a pitcher on the baseball team. He played basketball, which he eventually played at the University of Idaho, as well as golf. He is known most for golf and basketball in the community of Spokane. I grew up with my father gracing the sports pages in the summer. When my father fell down the stairs 1993 and got a head injury, the Spokesman Review wrote an article about Gary P Floan being the most dominant athlete in his sport winning over 100 golf tournaments in the area.
Aside from sports, my father also loved to dance and earned the nickname,"Twinkletoes"; and he loved a good party. While in college, Gary visited the University of Washington to play basketball against their team. He found himself at the Greek house Phi Gamma Delta, which he was a member of at the University of Idaho, and made friends with the singing group, "The Brother's 4." Later that night, they found themselves at a tattoo parlor each of them getting Woody the Woodpecker tattoos and Phi Gamma Delta tattoos.
Also, while in college Gary met his wife, Janice Kay Floan, at a dance. It was a fundraiser, and he continued to pay money to her for dance after dance until she agreed to a date. They married a couple years later and Gary P Floan began playing on the PGA tour. Unfortunately, in the 1960's the PGA tour didn't pay the kind of money it does today, and eventually Gary P Floan returned to amateur golf, and opened his first business, The Alley, a bar in Moscow Idaho. He ran it for several years, eventually selling it and moving to Spokane where he started another bar; and he began a lumber business that was successful until he sold it in the early 1990's.
Gary P Floan did not want to travel while raising children, so the new business' provided the life he hoped to raise his kids. Family was Gary P Floan's main priority. Gary never missed any of his children's events. Growing up with Gary P Floan as a father was a gift. I never remember him saying an unkind word to me my entire childhood. He was a positive person that believed in logic and kindness in regards to parenting and life.