Steven Floyd, Sr. was a man of rules and order. “He believed that rules were made for a reason,” his widow, Saundra, recalled. “Everyone was obligated to follow those sets of rules. … He lived a structured life.”

This rule of rules had one exception: his two grandsons. “He let them run wild – that was really something to see,” Saundra said. “They brought him so much joy – it was like seeing a whole different side of him.” Saundra and the rest of his family watched in delighted wonder as the rule-follower joyously gave youthful exuberance free rein. “Even my kids were like, ‘Is that Dad?’” Saundra remembered.

Family always came first for Steve. Having grown up without a father he was keen to be a good one for his family. “That’s what really motivated him to be a better man, to have that direction to make sure there was a plan in place for everything,” Saundra said. He was the only member of the family who did not have a college degree, which was fine. “He always felt he didn’t need that so long as we had it.” When he died two of their three children (two girls and a boy) had even earned graduate degrees. “That made him proudest,” Saundra said. He always said that it was better to be a giver than a receiver.

One thing he did not share with his family was his work. It wasn’t until after he died, when she was sorting through his things, that Saundra learned that he had won the Warden’s Award for Outstanding Service in 2016.

An eight-year Army veteran, Steve served in the Delaware correctional system for 16 years before chaos tragically ended his carefully ordered life. In February 2017 inmates at the facility near Smyrna, Delaware where he worked rioted, taking him and three other employees hostage. When lieutenants responded to the initial outbreak Floyd, already a hostage, warned them that they were walking into a trap – saving their lives. When a tactical team ended the 18-hour standoff, they found Steve unresponsive. He was the first correctional officer in Delaware history to die in the line of duty. “He did everything he possibly could that day to protect others – even when he wasn’t protected – because his main thing was that he had to protect others,” Saundra said. “I don’t think he would see it as a sacrifice but just as what he had to do.”

Delaware named its Department of Corrections training facility as well as the road leading to the facility where he worked in Steve’s honor. His family carries on the rules he so revered. “We still live the life that he would want us to have,” Saundra said.