Richard Everette Reynolds

Richard E. Reynolds, age 94, known simply as “Dick” to most of his friends and family was born on December 10, 1930 in Dupree, South Dakota to Maynard E. Reynolds (b.1895, d.1994) and Inez Nutter Reynolds (b.1894, d.1968). His parents were high school sweethearts who had grown up in Gibbon, Nebraska before moving to South Dakota to homestead, teach school and farm. The 1930’s in South Dakota were part of the “Dust Bowl” years in the American Midwest, but for young Dick, they were years of wonder, play and loneliness. His older siblings Robert and sister Janice (deceased) were 15 and 13 years older than him respectively, leaving him a virtual only-child on the rented family farm outside of Dupree in Red Elm, SD. That meant that he had to invent his own fun and games, like riding his mother’s horse, “Fairy”, or his brother’s horse “Jumbo”, or running through the fields and sage brush with his pet dog “Mugs” (who saved him from a rattlesnake when he was 4, taking the bite on the nose and living to wag his tail). When asked at 4 years-old what he wanted to be when he grew up he said, “I’m Dickie now, but when I grow up I want to be Bob.” When the Reynolds family moved into the town of Dupree, he finally was able to find some friends to pal around with, like Lester and Mary Lou. Together they and others formed a “gang” of little kids much like the “Little Rascals” on the silver screen. When Dick was 11, they moved from South Dakota to Corvallis, Oregon, where his Dad, Everett, worked as a wholesale grocery salesman before starting his own grocery store, the first in Corvallis with dedicated parking and an in-store butcher shop. Dick worked for his father during high school, graduating in 1949. He tried his hand at college at Oregon State University, just 4 blocks from their home, but decided he didn’t like college, so went to work at Wilson Motors Ford, before going into the US Navy, where he served 2 years active during the Korean Conflict and 6 years in the Naval Reserve. After leaving active service in the Navy, he went back to Wilson for a short stint, before moving on to Pacific Power Company as first a meter reader, then a grunt on a line crew, then as a line truck driver, and finally as a heavy equipment operator of large cranes for the Company, retiring with 34 years of service in 1989 at the age of 59, at which time he moved back to his childhood home to care for his father. Dick inherited that home, and lived 36 years in retirement, longer than he’d actually worked for PacificCorp! He was married three times: Janet Blackman (m.1953), Ruby Bollinger (m.1966) and Betty Oakland (m.1979), surviving all of them. Dick has three surviving children, Tony (b.1957) and wife Karen Reynolds of Onalaska, WA; Randy Reynolds (b.1959) and husband Harvey Williams of Santa Fe, NM; Ricky (b/d 1961); and Roxanne Reynolds (b.1968) of Richland, WA. He is also survived by granddaughter Kerstin Rolands and husband Tim and two great-grandchildren, Audrey and Kirk, as well as step-grandchildren Robert Bailey and wife Kimberly (Lindy), Christina Lamar (Ariauna, Azari) and “The best cat I’ve ever owned”, Diablo. Dick loved reading western novels, watching football and old M*A*S*H reruns on TV, driving through the countryside, trips to the Oregon coast, clam chowder, and puttering around his small home. Outliving all of his friends he passed quietly on December 2, 2025 in Centralia, WA, just one week shy of his 95th birthday. He will be greatly missed. The family would like to thank Samaritan Hospital, Corvallis, OR, Timberline Care Center, Albany, OR and Lander House, Centralia, WA, for the excellent care he received in the last 9 months of his life.

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