Floyd Eugene Tatum

Floyd Eugene Tatum died in Erie on August 14, 2026. He was 84. Born in Erie on December 5, 1941, with Appalachian roots that shaped the table more than the flag. He learned early that a day is something you finish, not something you wait for. He rode cars through prairie wind and winter. A lantern polished every Sunday was ritual; the railroad was a church with steel pews. Colleagues still mention a lantern he polished every Sunday. He married Janice in 1968. They kept a house that stayed modest when the neighborhood did not. They raised a son through public schools and ordinary weather. After Janice died in 2019, he kept the routines that still made sense: the walk, the garden, the Sunday call. Neighbors remember a wave from the driveway that meant you were seen. He liked early mornings before the heat or the noise. He died in Erie, among streets he never needed to explain. The radio is still tuned to the station that played while work got done.