Ira T. Reynolds, 108, of Susquehanna, died Saturday at Barnes-Kasson Hospital, Susquehanna. He was preceded in death by his wife of 62 years, Beatrice Smith Reynolds.
Born and raised in Luzerne, at the age of 12, Ira joined the Boy Scouts of America, only four years after the organization was formed, and spent the greater part of his long life serving scouting and displaying all of the qualities enumerated in the Scout law: loyal, honest, trustworthy, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent. His first scoutmaster was Dr. Laurance Thompson, who wrote the first-aid section of the original Scout Handbook and who saw such potential in the young Ira Reynolds that he lent the family the wherewithal to send him to Penn State at the tender age of 16 to study electrical engineering. After two years, Ira elected to join the Navy for three years in order to finish his training while earning a salary and in order to be able to repay the advance in a more timely fashion. Ira thoroughly enjoyed his naval service on the USS Delaware, the last of the coal-burning battleships, and visiting exotic ports in the Caribbean and the Panama Canal. In 1924, his skills as an electrician found him at a tannery in Noxen, where he met a schoolteacher from Oakland, Pa., Beatrice Smith, whom he married in 1928 in Susquehanna, where he spent the rest of his long life devoted to his family and community. Mr. Reynolds worked for many years for the Erie Railroad in Susquehanna, fixing any electrical problems that occurred on the stretch of railroad between Salamanca and Port Jervis, as well as in the Erie shops, and every Monday morning, he climbed the clock tower to wind the station clock. Many of his friends and neighbors have fond memories of completing their 10th-grade leaf collection projects on the nature trail that Ira and Beatrice maintained in their large yard and of viewing the beautiful fluorescent rocks that were an outstanding feature of the mineral collection they had gathered over the years. Nine decades of service to the Boy Scouts of America, in roles including scoutmaster, campmaster, local and district commissioner and more than 50 years as a Freemason of the Canawacta Lodge, have left his legacy of kindness, integrity and care of others interwoven in the lives of many people in Susquehanna and far beyond.
He is survived by three grandchildren, Mitchell, Erika and Siri Hansen; and seven great-grandchildren, Deborah, Daniel, Joy, Abigail, Esther, Joshua and Rebekah Hansen; several nieces and nephews.
He was also preceded in death by a daughter, Diane; three brothers Robert, Calvin and Ford Reynolds; and a sister, Martha Reynolds Hall.
A funeral service will be Thursday, at 11 a.m., at Hennessey's Funeral Home, 747 Jackson Ave., Susquehanna, with the Rev. James Rouse, officiating. Burial will be held in the Evergreen Cemetery, Susquehanna.
The family will receive friends Wednesday, 6 to 9 p.m. Those who wish may make memorial donations to the Baden-Powell Council of the Boy Scouts of America, Delahanna District; or Campmasters Building Fund, P.O. Box 66, Binghamton, NY 13903.
Published in Scranton Times on November 16, 2010
Born and raised in Luzerne, at the age of 12, Ira joined the Boy Scouts of America, only four years after the organization was formed, and spent the greater part of his long life serving scouting and displaying all of the qualities enumerated in the Scout law: loyal, honest, trustworthy, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent. His first scoutmaster was Dr. Laurance Thompson, who wrote the first-aid section of the original Scout Handbook and who saw such potential in the young Ira Reynolds that he lent the family the wherewithal to send him to Penn State at the tender age of 16 to study electrical engineering. After two years, Ira elected to join the Navy for three years in order to finish his training while earning a salary and in order to be able to repay the advance in a more timely fashion. Ira thoroughly enjoyed his naval service on the USS Delaware, the last of the coal-burning battleships, and visiting exotic ports in the Caribbean and the Panama Canal. In 1924, his skills as an electrician found him at a tannery in Noxen, where he met a schoolteacher from Oakland, Pa., Beatrice Smith, whom he married in 1928 in Susquehanna, where he spent the rest of his long life devoted to his family and community. Mr. Reynolds worked for many years for the Erie Railroad in Susquehanna, fixing any electrical problems that occurred on the stretch of railroad between Salamanca and Port Jervis, as well as in the Erie shops, and every Monday morning, he climbed the clock tower to wind the station clock. Many of his friends and neighbors have fond memories of completing their 10th-grade leaf collection projects on the nature trail that Ira and Beatrice maintained in their large yard and of viewing the beautiful fluorescent rocks that were an outstanding feature of the mineral collection they had gathered over the years. Nine decades of service to the Boy Scouts of America, in roles including scoutmaster, campmaster, local and district commissioner and more than 50 years as a Freemason of the Canawacta Lodge, have left his legacy of kindness, integrity and care of others interwoven in the lives of many people in Susquehanna and far beyond.
He is survived by three grandchildren, Mitchell, Erika and Siri Hansen; and seven great-grandchildren, Deborah, Daniel, Joy, Abigail, Esther, Joshua and Rebekah Hansen; several nieces and nephews.
He was also preceded in death by a daughter, Diane; three brothers Robert, Calvin and Ford Reynolds; and a sister, Martha Reynolds Hall.
A funeral service will be Thursday, at 11 a.m., at Hennessey's Funeral Home, 747 Jackson Ave., Susquehanna, with the Rev. James Rouse, officiating. Burial will be held in the Evergreen Cemetery, Susquehanna.
The family will receive friends Wednesday, 6 to 9 p.m. Those who wish may make memorial donations to the Baden-Powell Council of the Boy Scouts of America, Delahanna District; or Campmasters Building Fund, P.O. Box 66, Binghamton, NY 13903.
Published in Scranton Times on November 16, 2010
Ira T. Reynolds, 108, of Susquehanna, died Saturday at Barnes-Kasson Hospital, Susquehanna. He was preceded in death by his wife of 62 years, Beatrice Smith Reynolds.
Born and raised in Luzerne, at the age of 12, Ira joined the Boy Scouts of America, only four years after the organization was formed, and spent the greater part of his long life serving scouting and displaying all of the qualities enumerated in the Scout law: loyal, honest, trustworthy, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent. His first scoutmaster was Dr. Laurance Thompson, who wrote the first-aid section of the original Scout Handbook and who saw such potential in the young Ira Reynolds that he lent the family the wherewithal to send him to Penn State at the tender age of 16 to study electrical engineering. After two years, Ira elected to join the Navy for three years in order to finish his training while earning a salary and in order to be able to repay the advance in a more timely fashion. Ira thoroughly enjoyed his naval service on the USS Delaware, the last of the coal-burning battleships, and visiting exotic ports in the Caribbean and the Panama Canal. In 1924, his skills as an electrician found him at a tannery in Noxen, where he met a schoolteacher from Oakland, Pa., Beatrice Smith, whom he married in 1928 in Susquehanna, where he spent the rest of his long life devoted to his family and community. Mr. Reynolds worked for many years for the Erie Railroad in Susquehanna, fixing any electrical problems that occurred on the stretch of railroad between Salamanca and Port Jervis, as well as in the Erie shops, and every Monday morning, he climbed the clock tower to wind the station clock. Many of his friends and neighbors have fond memories of completing their 10th-grade leaf collection projects on the nature trail that Ira and Beatrice maintained in their large yard and of viewing the beautiful fluorescent rocks that were an outstanding feature of the mineral collection they had gathered over the years. Nine decades of service to the Boy Scouts of America, in roles including scoutmaster, campmaster, local and district commissioner and more than 50 years as a Freemason of the Canawacta Lodge, have left his legacy of kindness, integrity and care of others interwoven in the lives of many people in Susquehanna and far beyond.
He is survived by three grandchildren, Mitchell, Erika and Siri Hansen; and seven great-grandchildren, Deborah, Daniel, Joy, Abigail, Esther, Joshua and Rebekah Hansen; several nieces and nephews.
He was also preceded in death by a daughter, Diane; three brothers Robert, Calvin and Ford Reynolds; and a sister, Martha Reynolds Hall.
A funeral service will be Thursday, at 11 a.m., at Hennessey's Funeral Home, 747 Jackson Ave., Susquehanna, with the Rev. James Rouse, officiating. Burial will be held in the Evergreen Cemetery, Susquehanna.
The family will receive friends Wednesday, 6 to 9 p.m. Those who wish may make memorial donations to the Baden-Powell Council of the Boy Scouts of America, Delahanna District; or Campmasters Building Fund, P.O. Box 66, Binghamton, NY 13903.
Published in Scranton Times on November 16, 2010
Born and raised in Luzerne, at the age of 12, Ira joined the Boy Scouts of America, only four years after the organization was formed, and spent the greater part of his long life serving scouting and displaying all of the qualities enumerated in the Scout law: loyal, honest, trustworthy, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent. His first scoutmaster was Dr. Laurance Thompson, who wrote the first-aid section of the original Scout Handbook and who saw such potential in the young Ira Reynolds that he lent the family the wherewithal to send him to Penn State at the tender age of 16 to study electrical engineering. After two years, Ira elected to join the Navy for three years in order to finish his training while earning a salary and in order to be able to repay the advance in a more timely fashion. Ira thoroughly enjoyed his naval service on the USS Delaware, the last of the coal-burning battleships, and visiting exotic ports in the Caribbean and the Panama Canal. In 1924, his skills as an electrician found him at a tannery in Noxen, where he met a schoolteacher from Oakland, Pa., Beatrice Smith, whom he married in 1928 in Susquehanna, where he spent the rest of his long life devoted to his family and community. Mr. Reynolds worked for many years for the Erie Railroad in Susquehanna, fixing any electrical problems that occurred on the stretch of railroad between Salamanca and Port Jervis, as well as in the Erie shops, and every Monday morning, he climbed the clock tower to wind the station clock. Many of his friends and neighbors have fond memories of completing their 10th-grade leaf collection projects on the nature trail that Ira and Beatrice maintained in their large yard and of viewing the beautiful fluorescent rocks that were an outstanding feature of the mineral collection they had gathered over the years. Nine decades of service to the Boy Scouts of America, in roles including scoutmaster, campmaster, local and district commissioner and more than 50 years as a Freemason of the Canawacta Lodge, have left his legacy of kindness, integrity and care of others interwoven in the lives of many people in Susquehanna and far beyond.
He is survived by three grandchildren, Mitchell, Erika and Siri Hansen; and seven great-grandchildren, Deborah, Daniel, Joy, Abigail, Esther, Joshua and Rebekah Hansen; several nieces and nephews.
He was also preceded in death by a daughter, Diane; three brothers Robert, Calvin and Ford Reynolds; and a sister, Martha Reynolds Hall.
A funeral service will be Thursday, at 11 a.m., at Hennessey's Funeral Home, 747 Jackson Ave., Susquehanna, with the Rev. James Rouse, officiating. Burial will be held in the Evergreen Cemetery, Susquehanna.
The family will receive friends Wednesday, 6 to 9 p.m. Those who wish may make memorial donations to the Baden-Powell Council of the Boy Scouts of America, Delahanna District; or Campmasters Building Fund, P.O. Box 66, Binghamton, NY 13903.
Published in Scranton Times on November 16, 2010
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