East Palestine Robert P. Reeves, 80. of 375 East Grant St., passed away Tuesday afternoon at the Hollander House, Salem, where he had been a patient.

A resident of East Palestine for most of his life, Mr. Reeves was born November 4, 1927 in East Liverpool, to the late Harold and Anna Reisling Reeves. He moved to East Palestine in 1942, graduating with the Class of 1945. He attended Mount Union College, where he played basketball before entering the U.S. Army. Mr. Reeves served as a Staff Sergeant, assigned to SHAEF seeing duty in France and Germany.

Mr. Reeves had once worked as a mail carrier for the U.S. Postal Service and as a projectionist with the East Palestine Theatre. For most of his life he had been employed in the ceramic field having served as assistant superintendent of the former Metropolitan Brick Company, and in management with Kaiser Refractories, and later as a sales engineer serving the eastern United States and southern Canada. In 1977 he purchased the former R.D. Lemley Company, which he operated as the R.P. Reeves Company and Canvas Corner. His passions were golf, racing homing pigeons, gardening, and his family, and was also a private pilot.

Upon retiring, he devoted much of time to the remodeling and maintenance of the East Palestine Community Center.

Mr. Reeves was a member of the East Palestine Masonic Lodge # 417 F & AM, the East Liverpool Dahlia Society and the East Palestine Country Club, the American Ceramic Society, the American Racing Pigeon Union, and was a founding member of the Petersburg Flying Club.

He is survived by Betty, his wife of fifty-eight years; a brother, Arthur Reeves, East Palestine; a daughter, Patti Strohecker, East Palestine; and two sons, Kip (Denise) Reeves, Lanexa, VA and Greg (Nancy) Reeves, East Palestine. He also leaves eight grandchildren and four great grandchildren. He was preceded in death by three sisters, Mary, Margaret and Dorothy, and two brothers, Harold Reeves, Jr. and Harry Reeves.

A memorial service will be held at 2:00 p.m. Saturday at the Oliver-Linsley Funeral Home. The family has asked that memorial tributes be directed to the East Palestine Social Concerns or the East Palestine Alumni Scholarship Fund.