Rundus: Edith Floyd will be greatly missed
All who knew her will greatly miss Edith Floyd, who passed away at the age of 87 Sunday.
Edith lived in our immediate neighborhood in Cypress Lakes for the past 15 years or so and, though quite inactive for the past several years, she and her devoted caretaker, Marlene Floyd, often attended community gatherings.
Edith was, of course, also the mother of renowned PGA golf professional Raymond Floyd. And daughter Marlene played for several years on the LPGA tour before putting most of her attention to teaching.
Edith was quite an avid gardener and was prominent in adding some shrub and flower areas to Cypress Lakes Golf Course. I had the privilege of playing an 18-hole community event with her quite a few years ago. And I was appreciative of the focus she observed while on the course and her courtesy and concern for her partners before, after and during play. The two charities mentioned for memorials to Edith Floyd are the Fayetteville Animal Protection Society and the American Cancer Society.
From what we've heard from longtime friend and lifetime learner Liza and husband Julian Smalls, a great evening was enjoyed by those who visited Highland Country Club on Saturday for a celebration christened "Schoolhouse Rock!'' This was the annual fundraising gala of the Cumberland County Education Foundation. If you weren't able to attend or support the event this year, keep in mind (echoing Rick in the movie "Casablanca") we'll always have (if not Paris) 2011.
Have you seen the new version of "Alice in Wonderland?'' Looks as if it is a memorable and mesmerizing movie: characters like the White Rabbit, the March Hare, Tweedledee and Tweedledum, the Red Queen and the White Queen, and even Lewis Carroll's fantasy beast the "frumious Bandersnatch," from his immortal poem "Jabberwocky,'' are prominent. And (bring on the drums and trumpets) the Fayetteville Museum of Art will soon be exhibiting "Salvador Dali's illustrations for Alice in Wonderland,'' a sequel to the recently concluded exhibit of Dali's 100 illustrations for the 100 cantos of Dante's prodigious masterpiece, "The Divine Comedy.''
We four "Blogger Buddies" who attended that event will doubtless look forward to seeing what Dali's inventive mind has done with the Lewis Carroll tale.
We had an enjoyable visit with our good friend Carol Boyd recently. I wrote about Carol's remarkable record as a scholar and student leader a couple years ago. Her primary interest for a long time has been marine biology, in particular the shark as a species, though she did become enamored some time ago of two octopi who became her "pets" during her advanced laboratory studies in Washington State. Now executive director of the Fayetteville Animal Protection Society, Carol has already been exposed to quite a bit of controversy, though largely from the "sidelines."
Four of her staffers got together, put their thinking caps on, and penned an insightful and positive opinion piece for The Fayetteville Observer a few days ago.
Carol is keeping her head level and her standards high for her staff and her animals' keeping, and we are proud to know her.
We just need to enlighten our county commissioners a bit more about sound practices and effective and efficient protocol in their domain. One commissioner, a friend, has suggested that the county agency's primary role is to protect county residents from dangerous or diseased animals rather than make a first priority of caring for and sheltering animals.
I do not think this to be a sound differentiation, as I believe those who treat and care for animals humanely and appropriately are those likely to also treat their fellow mortals well.
I continue to find myself at times getting what some might politely call "a bit smart-alecky" at the golf course, even while working my Saturday morning job as a starter. One instance: seeing that in a foursome one player was markedly younger than the other participants, I found myself saying, as he prepared to tee off, "Well, you know, you can't coach youth." And, just this past Saturday, after a fairly inexperienced foursome had finally gotten off the tee and on the course, I explained to the following group: "It appears as if Mr. Mulligan is their best friend."
Whether it is playing golf, taking care of those less fortunate than ourselves or offering our help to worthy charities, we simply all just need to keep workin' on it.
Raymond J. Rundus is a professor emeritus at UNC-Pembroke. He has lived in Cypress Lakes since 1985 and is former president of the Cypress Lakes Men's Golf Association. He can be reached at rjrundus@infionline.net.