Memorial Service
City Hill Church-
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Email Details
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12901 Roberts Drive
Eden Prarie, MN -
Visitation 1 hour prior to service at church.
Interment, Fort Snelling National Cemetery following service
Lloyd R. Flynn
September 20, 1922 — December 23, 2020
Lloyd R. Flynn
Lloyd Raymond Flynn
On December 23 at the age of 98, Lloyd Raymond Flynn passed away peacefully at NC Little Hospice in Edina, where he had been living since Thanksgiving Day.
Born to parents Raymond and Adeline Flynn in Minneapolis, Lloyd grew up in the neighborhood of 53rd and Dupont Avenue South, and attended Annunciation grade school. Lloyd loved the area, where he was able to enjoy football, baseball, basketball, tennis and hockey at Lynnhurst Park, along with swimming and fishing at Lake Harriet. He also spent portions of his childhood summers at his grandparents’ farm near Rogers and Boy Scout Camp in northern Minnesota. From 1929 to 1936, Lloyd and his family spent summers at Big Island Veteran’s Camp on Lake Minnetonka, across from Excelsior.
Lloyd attended high school at St. Thomas Military Academy in Mendota Heights, where he made many lifelong friends, followed by two years of college at St. Thomas University in St. Paul. In the spring of 1942, before officially enlisting in the U.S. Navy, Lloyd and two good friends enrolled in the Civilian Pilot Training Program, where they learned to fly Cub airplanes at the Minneapolis airport. In June of that year, Lloyd and friends enlisted in the Navy, applied to be aviation cadets, and were called to active duty in October. First was Naval Pre-Flight School in Iowa City, then the Naval Air Station in Minneapolis, where Lloyd learned to fly the N2S, then the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, where he learned to fly the SMV and SMJ.
Upon being given the choice to fly with the Navy or the Marine Corps, Lloyd selected the Marines, in part to honor Dick Fleming, a St. Thomas Academy alumnus and St. Paul native who died heroically in the Battle of the Midway.
In August of 1943 in Pensacola, Lloyd was commissioned as a USMC Second Lieutenant, followed by operational training in Jacksonville, where he learned to fly the famed SBD “Dauntless.” He was then sent to El Toro in Santa Ana to practice flying SBDs as he awaited orders to go overseas.
In 1944, Lloyd was sent into action and stationed at Engebi Island in the Marshall Islands. At Engebi, Lloyd and his gunner, Dan Williams, flew missions every other day for 11 months. During an especially critical mission, Lloyd and Dan flew over and released a cannister with secret instructions to a communications ship harbored below. These instructions ordered the beginning of the Mariana Islands invasion campaign, which led to the end of World War II.
In 1945, following active duty, Lloyd spent a year as an SBD flight instructor at the Naval Auxiliary Station in Beevillle, TX.
After his active military service, Lloyd returned to college in the University of Minnesota’s Mortuary Science Program, graduating in 1948. Lloyd also spent four years in the Marine Reserves, rising to the rank of Captain. In the Reserves, he continued with formation training, dive bombing and cross country missions. After graduation and while in the Reserves, Lloyd joined his father, Ray, in the family mortuary business, Flynn Funeral Home, which was renamed to Flynn and Son.
1948 was also the year Lloyd met and fell in love with Betty Whelan, whom he married in 1950. Lloyd and Betty first lived in St. Louis Park, then built a home in the Morningside area of Edina in 1958. Lloyd and Betty raised seven children and were longtime members of St. Thomas the Apostle parish in Minneapolis.
During retirement years, Lloyd and Betty enjoyed spending more time with family, friends and relatives; extended vacations to England, Ireland, Hawaii, San Diego and other spots; and lots of spring, summer and fall biking trips on trails throughout Minnesota and Wisconsin. They also loved their annual journey to the North Shore of Lake Superior, a favorite destination for the fall colors.
Lloyd loved bird watching, listening to opera and classical music, reading biographies and WWII historical books, corresponding with fellow WWII vets and relatives, afternoon naps, going out for coffee, his monthly 8th Air Force luncheons, and following the Edina Hornets and Golden Gophers hockey teams. As a jovial half-Irishman, half-Frenchman, Lloyd had a gift for making friends of all ages, and was a loving and enthusiastic patriarch for his large extended family of nieces, nephews and their families across the country.
Lloyd is preceded in death by his parents Raymond and Adeline, wife Betty, sons Mike and Pat, brother Ted (Anne Marie), sisters Jeanne (Pierce) Wikman and Dorothy (Bob) McNamee, and in-laws Eileen (Cliff) Morlan, Mel Whelan and Marie Whelan. Lloyd is survived by his children Joe (Charlotte), Bob (Val), Tim (Melinda), Anne (John Blau), and John; grandsons Tom, Paul, Aaron (Margaret), Ryan, Andrew and Dan; great-grandsons Collin and Pierce; sister-in-law Mary Grace Whelan; and cousin Frank Braun. Lloyd is also survived by many loving Flynn, McNamee, Morlan, Whelan and Wikman nieces, nephews and their families, both in Minnesota and around the country. He is further survived by special friends from Smith Coffee, Freedom Pointe, 8th Air Force and those he became close to through his correspondence.
The family extends warm thanks and gratitude to Lloyd's physician of 18 years, Dr. Steven Borowsky; staff from The Glenn in Hopkins; and the teams from both NC Little Hospice and Park Nicollet Hospice.
Memorial Service 10:30 AM Friday, May 21 at City Hall Church, 12901 Roberts Drive, Eden Prairie. Burial with honors at Ft. Snelling National Cemetery.
Memorial donations may be directed to NC Little Hospice, Samaritan's Purse or Cradle of Hope .
To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Lloyd R. Flynn, please visit our flower store.
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