Lloyd Thornton Deckard, 99, passed on Wednesday, August 18th in Phoenix, Ariz. Lloyd, the son of James Thornton and Lilly Grace White Deckard was born on his father’s 28th birthday, August 17, 1905, on the Deckard farm which is now covered by Lake Monroe in Brown County, Ind.

Lloyd attended the Deckard School in Brown County and loved to tell about his first day of school when angry about going to school he snapped his pencil in half.

The family moved to Rock Springs, Iowa in 1915 where Lloyd attended school before moving on to Glenville. He moved to Phoenix for the winters in 1943 and spent the summers in Glenville and Albert Lea until the late 1950s when he became a year-around Phoenix resident.

Lloyd served in the Army during the US colonial occupation of the Philippine Islands in 1925 and again during World War II. He participated in many different occupations during his lifetime. His earliest years were spent working on the family farm, during his Philippine tour he learned automobile mechanics, he owned the only Root Beer Stand ever in Glenville in the late 1940s. A picture of the stand was featured in the Freeborn County Historical Society calendar in 2003. He became a carpenter, an air conditioning service man, and owned a pool maintenance service and finally a mobile home park manager. He loved to write poetry and was proud of his work that was published in a book. One of his poems was written about his engagement to Florence Hanson. The first line was, “She kept me waiting 18 years and wore my diamond all that time.”

Lloyd and Florence were united in marriage in Tijuana, Mexico on July 4, 1950. The only marriage for each. No children were born to this union.

Lloyd was a member of Augustana Lutheran Church, Disabled American Veterans, American Legion and German American Club. He loved to dance and was still dancing the jitterbug a month before his death. He enjoyed nickel and dime gambling on card games.

Lloyd was preceded in death by his wife, his parents, and each of his siblings: Admiral Dewey Deckard, 84; Eva Evangeline Lockard, 97; Frank Holley, 95; Pansy Marie Stiles-Collins, 97; Clara Helen Robinson-Bue, 90.

Lloyd is survived by nieces and nephews, Deloris Aguirre and Romelda Quam, Phoenix; Ronnie Deckard and Jane Christopherson, Hartland; Terry Bue, Austin; Sharon Kalb of Marion, Ohio; Nancy Bryant, The Villages, Fla.; Jerry Lockard, Berden, Pa.; and Charles Tiles, Lansing, Mich. and their numerous children and grandchildren.