Floyd Short ’54

Floyd Alvin Short passed away on February 23, 2025. He was 92 years old. Floyd was born in Springfield, Illinois, in 1932, the son of Floyd Gary Short and Lucy Merriam Short.

Floyd was an Eagle Scout and showed his leadership qualities at an early age, serving as the president of two social clubs in high school while playing clarinet in the band. He attended Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, where he was pre-med and played football, graduating in 1954. Floyd then attended the University of Rochester School of Medicine in Rochester, New York, and earned his M.D. in 1959.

Floyd did his medical internship and residency at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, where he happened to meet a nurse on the psychiatry ward named Faye Shelton and fell in love. They married on December 31, 1960. Soon thereafter Floyd entered the U.S. Army as a doctor and they moved to Karlsruhe, Germany, where they lived for two years. They took the opportunity to travel throughout Europe extensively, and their son, Floyd Grady, was born in Germany in 1963.

A few months later, they moved to Mercer Island, Washington, for Floyd to complete his residency and a fellowship in cardiology at the University of Washington in Seattle. There he worked closely with Dr. Leonard Cobb, the founder of the Medic One program, helping to design the first Medic One mobile van and teaching some of the first paramedics in the program. Floyd later initiated the first firefighter EMT defibrillation program in the world and taught countless firefighters over many years how to save people suffering cardiac arrest or other heart problems in the field.

While Floyd was serving on the clinical faculty of the University of Washington, at Harborview, their daughter, Kathleen (“Katie”), was born in Seattle in 1965. Floyd soon entered private practice as a cardiologist at the Seattle Heart Clinic, where he worked until his retirement in 1997. During his career, he became Chief of Cardiology at Swedish Hospital, President of the American Heart Association, and President of the Medic One Foundation. Even after he retired, Floyd continued to train Mercer Island firefighters. In recognition of that work and his involvement in the creation of Medic One, in 1992 Floyd was named Citizen of the Year by the City of Mercer Island (and made an honorary member of the Mercer Island Fire Department), and in 2005 he received the Lifesaver Hall of Fame Award from the Medic One Foundation.

Notwithstanding his many accomplishments and contributions to society, Floyd was truly humble and a very loving husband and father. He enjoyed travel, playing golf, skiing, and reading. He especially loved music and sang together with Faye as part of the Seattle First Baptist Church Choir and later as part of the Seattle Symphony Chorale. Floyd was always curious about a wide range of subjects, and for many years he organized a series of classes at Seattle First Baptist that brought speakers from all walks of life to discuss issues both contemporary and philosophical.

Floyd lived the fullest of lives and was dearly loved by his family, friends, colleagues, and patients. He is survived by his wife, Faye; his children, their spouses, and five grandchildren: Floyd (Tsering), R. Grady, Anna, and Kalden, and “Katie” (Mark), Jackson, and Hannah; and his siblings and their spouses, Gary (Jessie), Miriam (Al), and Barbara (Jack).