Gene Reedy

Gene Reedy, age 93, of Grants Pass, died Wednesday, March 19, 2014 at Royale Gardens Health & Rehabilitation Center.

A celebration of life will be at 1:00 p.m., Saturday, April 5, 2014 at Hull & Hull Funeral Directors. Private interment will be at the Masonic Cemetery in Grants Pass.

Remembrances may be made to the Shriners Hospital for Children, 3101 SW Sam Jackson Park Road, Portland, Oregon 97239-3009 – phone 1.503.241.5090.

Gene was born September 3, 1920 in Dayton, Ohio to Edgar Clifton Reedy & Gertrude Dorothy Helm and was raised in Dayton, Ohio and Jerome, Arizona. After graduating high school he worked for General Motors, Frigidaire Division in Ohio before enlisting in the United States Marine Corps. From September 1942 to September 1945 during World War II he served as a Sergeant in the Pacific Theatre of Operations and participated in action at Apama, Gilbert Islands, Okinawa and Ryukyu Island with special proficiency as a water supply man overseeing 25 men and achieved expert rifle weapons qualification. After his honorable discharge he returned to Dayton for one year again working for Frigidaire. He then married his childhood sweetheart, Phyllis Campbell who had written to him every day while he was overseas and they married September 15, 1946 in Priest River, Idaho. They moved to Grants Pass, Oregon where they would raise a family of two boys. Gene worked for Rogue River Hardware for 14 years as a staff plumber, a trade he learned from his uncle. In 1961 Gene and Phyllis started Reedy Plumbing & Heating. Upon retiring in 1985, a long time employee and close family friend, Frank Rauch, took over the business.

Gene was a member of the Redwood Lions Club for 25 years; charter and life member of the Josephine County Sportsman Association – one of 12 who started it; member of the Masonic Lodge since1969 serving as Master in 1974, appointed to serve as District Deputy to the Grand Master from 1988 to 1994, served as chairman of the Advisory Council for DeMolay, and awarded the DeMolay Cross of Honor and lifetime membership; member of the Elks; member of the Shriners; and member of the Marine Corps League, Rogue Valley Detachment. He was also an active member of the Grants Pass Dance Club and Christian Singles Fellowship.

His hobbies including hunting and fishing (especially fly fishing) and he loved sports (especially baseball which he played in his youth).

Gene is survived by a son, Kevin Reedy of Grants Pass, Oregon. He was preceded in death by his wife, Phyllis; a sister, Marge and son, James Reedy.