Floyd Liley Sr.

Floyd W. Liley Sr., 93, formerly of Sikeston, Mo., died Sept. 6, 2005, at the Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau.

Born June 15, 1912, at Lutesville, Mo., he was the son of the late David and Lucretia (Eaker) Liley. He graduated from Lutesville High School in 1929, received a B.S. in education from Southeast Missouri State University and a master's in education from the University of Tennessee in Memphis.

During World War II, he served in the U.S. Navy as a physical fitness instructor and officer on a tanker in the Atlantic. He was honorably discharged as a lieutenant in 1945 and remained in the Naval Reserve for 10 years. He was in the charge of veterans training in the Department of Education in Missouri from 1949 to 1951.

He was in education for 46 years, teaching at Des Arc, Mo., was an elementary prinicpal, athletic director and coach at Lilbourn, Mo., county superintendent of New Madrid County schools, after which he was high school principal at Kennett, Mo., and superintendent of schools in Advance, Mo. He served as president of both the Southeast Missouri Teachers Association and the Southeast Missouri School Board Association.

He was a member of the Methodist church in each community he served in; he also taught Sunday school, was a lay speaker and served on church and conference boards. On moving to Cape in 2001 he joined Centenary United Methodist Church. He was a golfer, basketball player and coach. He was a 32nd-degree Mason, Trowell Lodge 440, a member of Capaha Scottish Rite, Shriners, Eastern Star, past president of the Lilbourn Kiwanis Club, lieutenant governor and district director of the Lions Club, and was active in the American Red Cross and Boy Scouts of America.

On June 11, 1938, he married Ruth Stearns. She survives. They retired in 1977 and 1978 and lived in Sikeston 24 years before moving to Saxony Village in Cape Girardeau.

One son, Floyd W. "Butch" Liley Jr., preceded him in death in 1996. Two brothers and a sister also preceded him.

Friends may call from noon until the funeral at 2 p.m. Thursday at Ponder Funeral Home in Sikeston. The Rev. Jeff Long, pastor of Centenary United Methodist Church, will officiate, and the Rev. Karen Mustoe, associate pastor, will assist.

Burial will follow in Memorial Park at Sikeston, with full military honors.

Pallbearers will be Bert Brower, John Crouthers, Mark Crouthers, James "Buddy" Crouthers, Chuck Grant and Bart Grant. Honorary pallbearers will be Freeman Lewis, Richard Trout, Jack Bess, Maurice Stauffer and Leland Maxwell.