Amos O'Neal Flood (known as O'Neal when young ) was born on November 24, 1922 in Pleasant Grove, AR and died May 21, 2020 in Daniel, WY with his daughter, Bettina, and her husband, Rollin Sparrowe. Son Bill and granddaughter Anahelena live in Portland, OR. His parents, William and Clara (Brown) Flood, had 3 other children: Vera, Riefford, and Thelma. He played basketball at Perryville High School and graduated in 1940. He was raised on a farm. Since there was no veterinarian in the area, his Vocational Agricultural teacher helped Amos' family with animals on the farm. This instilled in him a love of animals, yearning to be a vet, and exposure to animal husbandry that led to his medical laboratory work in the Army. His attendance at Arkansas State Teachers College was interrupted in 1943 when he enlisted in the Army Reserve Corp. Amos' unit was called up in 1944 and he first went to Rouen, France, to the 179th U.S. Army General Hospital as a Laboratory Technician and later to the 97th General Hospital in Frankfurt, Germany. He earned the rank of Sergeant. In 1946 he served as a War Department civilian Personnel Administrator and met and married Susanne (Jaeger) Stoess in Frankfurt in 1947. He loved the time in Frankfurt with Susanne and her family. The newly married couple spent 10 days travelling on the USS Falcon from LaHavre, France to New York, NY. He returned to college in AR and obtained a Bachelor of Science Degree in Agriculture. The couple lived in MO (Wheaton, Stella, Birch Tree, Mountain Grove, and Willow Springs) where he taught high school Vocational Agriculture and mentored many young men (this was before girls were allowed in the program!) in the Future Farmers of America program over the course of 30 years. He was very proud of his FFA time and felt this was a very important program for young people as it teaches them many life skills. He also taught agriculture to Veterans through the MO University Extension Service after WWII. After Susanne's death, Amos lived by himself for a year, and moved to Daniel in 2010. It was a radical change for him on many fronts, but the Rendezvous Pointe Senior Center in Pinedale eased the transition. Amos made many, many friends there; said the meals were delicious; loved to play pool every Wednesday; enjoyed the people because they were "so real"; and was able to recapture his independence. He has always been a Baptist and enjoyed singing old gospel songs. He was a staunch Democrat. He enjoyed being outside, whether it was cutting brush, planting a vegetable garden, watching chicken antics or just feeling the warm sun on his skin. Amos always had a twinkle in his baby blue eyes and a Hershey's dark chocolate kiss for the ladies. He was a devoted husband, father and friendly and respectful to everyone he met. We miss him deeply yet are so happy that we had so many years with him. There was no better man.
If you want to celebrate Papa's life, please send contributions to Rendezvous Pointe, P.O. Box 804, Pinedale, WY 82941.