Farewell

Michael Allen Lloyd died Wednesday, December 16, 2009, in his home. He lived with his elderly mother and had many health problems. He was 45 years old.

Born July 22, 1964, in Manassas, VA, to Richard Lloyd and Alice Fletcher Lloyd, he was Alice's fourth child. He is survived by his mother Alice Fletcher McBride of Spotsylvania, brother Steve Lloyd of Spotslvania, half-brother John Brower of Leesburg, VA, sister Sue Hunter of North Carolina, one niece, one nephew, and a former wife in Charlottesville, VA. Michael had worked primarily as a floor installer. His father, the late Richard Lloyd, was a motorcycle cop, but abandoned his family when Mike was four and died of cancer in Chicago when Mike was 16. His step-father was the late Dwight McBride, retired from both the military and city government. Mike's maternal grandparents, the Fletchers, lived in Alabama, where Alice's father owned a newspaper, where her mother was the president of the garden club, and where Alice went to finishing school.

Mike was tender-hearted and empathetic. He loved the outdoors, fishing, hunting and swimming. One of the highlights of his life was visiting the Grand Canyon and camping there. He loved wood stoves, snow, Nascar, and pro football. He was definitely a Dale Earnhardt fan. He loved looking at the stars through a telescope and studying the constellations. He graduated from Fairfax High School in Virginia.

He loved his wife dearly and hated losing her, but could not change his lifestyle in order to stay married. He tended to drive away all the people he loved the most, like his wife and his mother. His wife loved him despite all the pain he caused her. He took excellent care of her after major surgery. She stopped loving him as a husband or a lover because of the pain his behavior caused, but continued to care for him as a friend. His misery, his loneliness, his self-destruction tore her to pieces, causing her to resent him and care for him at the same time. Just like the parent who cares deeply for a child who makes all the wrong decisions, she had to opt for self-preservation instead of trying to protect him. She knows how much he respected her, and looked up to her, and how much he needed her. She will never forget the tender moments between them even after the romance had gone.

Some of his organs were used for transplants so that his life counted for helping others.

**This obituary/eulogy was necessary, since his family doesn't handle death well. They skip funerals and memorial services. The remains are treated as cheaply as possible and no formal remembrance is made in print, action, or monument. To me his life counted, and mine will not be the same without him. Good-bye, Michael. I'll never stop loving you.