Jan. 1, 1949-Sept. 18, 2025
Floyd Hardison was born on Jan. 1, 1949, to the union of Mr. Lloyd Hardison, Sr. and Mrs. Cecile Below Hardison. He departed this life on Sept. 18, 2025 at Willis Knighton Hospital in Shreveport, Louisiana.
Floyd married his high school sweetheart Gwendolyn Faye Antee on June 14, 1969. Their daughter and only child, his heartbeat, arrived a year later.
Floyd accepted Christ at an early age and joined the St Martha Baptist Church. He later moved his membership to First Baptist Church, Amulet Street under the leadership of Rev. H. B. Barnum, Pastor.
A graduate of Central High School Class of 1968, Floyd was known for being a phenomenal basketball player with the Gophers. He also joined the Glee Club. As a result, he takes claim to fame that his daughter’s musical singing career “is where she got it from.”
While a student at Northwestern State University he worked various jobs in the community. Having witnessed his parents’ work ethics, he picked cotton, mowed yards, and more to generate income. Through relatives in the grocery business, he was able to get a job bagging grocery. Floyd was taught by the best in the field of grocery, John Below, Sr. “Big John” his uncle, and staff members at Safe-Way Grocery Store, the former People’s Food Warehouse, and his aunt, Willie May Hardison, owner of Kermit C Groceries. Those experiences allowed him to continue to hone his skills that ultimately led to managerial positions at Jim’s Joy, and a notable grocery chain, A&P, Through a partnership with his uncle “Big John,” they opened Hardison Food Mart in the heart of Jackson Square. He and Irving Sowell also partnered to purchase Casa Grande, in the heart of Breda Town serving as a platform for the nightlife entertainment business.
He was later employed by Country Pride, now Pilgrim’s Pride, where he drove trucks. Floyd retired from Walmart as an assistant manager.
Floyd’s greatest accomplishment, his daughter, Tameka, was the ‘apple of his eye’ from the moment she entered the world. The father-daughter time early on ensured the bond remained throughout adulthood. He attended Parent Teacher Association meetings, Father-Daughter’s Day Brownie Scout meetings, junior high basketball games, high school band performances, and never missed a Grambling State University (GSU) home game while his little tiger marched in the world- renown GSU band. As an adult he was always attentive to her professional and personal moves.
Floyd was the fourth child of Cecile and Lloyd, both of whom proceeded him in death. Siblings proceeding in death were his sister, Gwendolyn Faye Hardison; named after his wife, Lloyd Hardison, Jr., Charles Ray “Red” Hardison, James “Jack the Bear” Hardison, Carlos “Pap” Hardison, Vernon “Black” Hardison, and Herbert Hardison.
Surviving siblings in birth order are Annie Marie Hardison, Merdis Deloris Hardison; of Natchitoches; Ronald Lyn Hardison, of Alexandria, Louisiana; Ronnie Ben Hardison, and Terry Lynn Hardison of Natchitoches. Additional surviving relatives include an uncle, Robert Charles Hardison and his wife, Minnie of Ocala, Florida, a godson, Leroy Cole of Atlanta, Georgia and a goddaughter Joaquin “Joanie” Simon-Allen of Meridian, Mississippi.
Floyd will be remembered, we pray, by his nieces, nephews and many other relatives, friends, and associates with whom he worked, acknowledged, and loved.