22 Aug 1991, Thursday, Page 32Reid Elwell, 80, superintendent Reid B. Elwell, 80, superintendent of schools in Grey Eagle, Fairfax and Hill City, Minn., for 26 years, died of cancer Monday at the Itasca Medical Center in Grand Rapids, Minn.Elwell, of Hill City, was born in Frederic, Wis., and grew up in North Dakota. His mother, Mable Reid, had been a teacher in Two Harbors, Minn. He received a certificate from a two-year teacher's college and taught for a few years in rural North Dakota schools. He completed his degree at the University of Minnesota and taught and directed the band in Mandan, N.D., until he was drafted into the Army during World War II. He served with the occupation forces in Germany until late 1946. He was a school principal in North Dakota while working on his master's degree and returned to Minnesota in 1950 to become superintendent in Grey Eagle. During his three years there, he consolidated the few remaining grades in Bertram into the Grey Eagle school system. He was superintendent in Fairfax from 1953 to 1965 and in Hill City from 1965 until he retired in 1976. He consolidated the Jacobson and Swatara schools into the Hill City district and helped build several additions to the school. Elwell was particularly interested in jazz music of the 1920s, '30s and 40s and had been a state champion trumpet player twice during high school. He played in small dance bands and jazz combos during the 1930s and '40s. He was a member of the Army Reserve and National Guard for 17 years. He had been a member of the Fairfax Rotary Club, American Legion and Toastmasters. He is survived by his wife, Bernice; daughters Georgia Elwell, of Maplewood; Patricia Earley, of Peekskill, N.Y., and Jean Elwell-Keir, of Minneapolis; sons John, of St. Paul, and James, of Portland, Ore.; a brother, John, of Palo Verde, Calif.; a sister, Dorothy Boode, of San Pedro, Calif., and four grandchildren. Services will be held at 1 1 a.m. today at St. John's Catholic Church in Hill City with visitation hours before the service. Graveside services will be held at 11:15 a.m. Friday at Fort Snelling National Cemetery in Minneapolis. Arrangements are by the Rowe Funeral Home, Grand Rapids.

Military Information: CAPT, US ARMY