Donald Emerson Reid

West Point, 1955

Be Thou At Peace

Posted by FAYETTEVILLE OBSERVER on February 13, 2007:

Here is the Obituary form the Fayetteville Observer, Sunday, February 11th, 2007. Retired Lt. Col. Donald Emerson Reid went to be with the Lord on Thursday, Feb. 8, 2007, in Fayetteville. He was born in Peabody, Mass., on Aug. 4, 1928, son of Ella Emerson Reid and Ralph James Reid. He graduated from Peabody High School in 1945 at age 16, enlisted in the Army Reserves and attended the University of Massachusetts. He enlisted in the regular Army in 1946 and became Airborne qualified. He went to the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., for two years before entering West Point, where he graduated in 1955. He had earned master's degrees from both the University of New Hampshire in Durham, N.H., and Duke University in Durham, N.C. During his Army career, he attended Command and General Staff College in Paris. He served three assignments in Germany, one in France and two in Vietnam. He served in the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions and the 3rd Infantry Division. He received both the U.S. and Vietnamese medals of commendation. He retired as a lieutenant colonel in 1983 at Fort Bragg, having served in Infantry, Airborne and Special Forces units. Don served his community wherever he was stationed. He had been a Boy Scout leader, youth football coach and, recently, a volunteer at the Fayetteville Airborne & Special Operations Museum. He was active in the Fayetteville Kiwanis Club, Sandhills West Point Society and First Presbyterian Church, where he served as deacon, elder and elder emeritus. Mr. Reid was predeceased in 1982 by Nancy Johnson Reid, originally of Jacksonville, Fla. He is survived by Joyce Seay Reid, to whom he was married for 21 years; his children, Donna R. Quesnell and husband Joe of Land O'Lakes, Fla., Mary R. Long and husband Tom of San Antonio, Texas, and Lt. Col. Daniel E. Reid and wife Paula of Rock Hill, S.C., currently serving in the Army in Baghdad, Iraq; his wife's children, Elizabeth R. Allen and husband Curtis and Rebecca R. Osterkamp and husband Oie; and 12 grandchildren, Anthony Quesnell, Geoffrey Long, Sarah Long, Courtney Reid, Devin Reid, Victoria P. Kirby, Maylon A. Kirby III, Frederick Tyler Kirby, Suzanne Allen, Aileen Allen, Anne Allen and Misha Allen. Burial will be in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va., at 11 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 15, 2007. A memorial service will be held in First Presbyterian Church in Fayetteville at 11 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 22, 2007. The family will receive friends at the church immediately following the service. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorials be made to either First Presbyterian Church, 102 Ann St., Fayetteville, NC 28301; the Airborne & Special Operations Museum, 100 Bragg Blvd., Fayetteville, NC 28301; or to the Association of Graduates USMA, Don Reid Class of 1955, 698 Mills Road, West Point, NY 10966. The family expresses appreciation for the many expressions of kindness and caring from friends. Funeral arrangements are entrusted to Jernigan-Warren Funeral Home of Fayetteville. Fayetteville Observer Feb 11, 2007

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