Dick Reed

Monday, July 1, 2002

CHARLESTON - Richard Thompson "Dick" Reed, 78, died at 11:40 a.m. June 29, 2002.

Born Nov. 10, 1923, at Poplar Bluff, son of the late Buel and Rose Birkhead Reed, he lived in Mississippi County most of his life where he was president and C.E.O. of the First Bank of East Prairie for 30 years. He received a 50-year pin from Charleston Masonic Lodge 407 AF&AM and from the Scottish Rites Masons of the Valley in St. Louis. A member of the Shriners Temple in St. Louis, he was a past president and member of the R-2 School Board, served on the board of the East Prairie and Charleston nutrition centers, and was a former member of the East Prairie Lions Club. He was of the Methodist belief serving as a lay leader, a member of the Board of Trustees and as a Sunday school teacher. He was a member of the Nelson United Methodist Church in East Prairie until moving to Charleston at which time he became a member of the United Methodist Church there. He was on the Missouri Conservation Department Board of Directors from 1983-1989 and after his term was appointed as a lifetime commissioner emeritus on the conservation board. In 1997, a unit of the Ten-Mile Pond wildlife refuge was named after him. He was a past member of the board of directors of the Mid-America Teen Challenge in Cape Girardeau and was an honorary colonel for former Gov. Warren E. Hearnes.

On June 21, 1944, at the United Methodist Church in Charleston, he married Dorothy Farmer who survives of the home.

Other survivors include: one daughter and son-in-law, Pat and Phillip Stiefel of Virginia Beach, Va., one son and daughter-in-law, Richard T. "Rick" and Deidre E. Reed of Charleston; one brother, Don Reed of Winona; one sister, Susanna Barnett of Bellevue, Wash., and four grandsons, Richard T. Reed III and Joseph Reed of Charleston and Nathaniel Stiefel and Jeremiah Stiefel of Virginia Beach.

Visitation will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. today at Shelby Funeral Home in East Prairie where Masonic services are scheduled for 7 p.m. with the Charleston Masonic Lodge in charge of arrangements.

Tuesday morning visitation will take place from 9 to 11 a.m. at the United Methodist Church in Charleston where funeral services will be conducted with Bro. Ed Hankinson, Bro. Gerald Collier and Bro. Richard Combs officiating.

Burial will follow in the Odd Fellows Cemetery near Charleston.

Pallbearers will be: Richard T. Reed III, Nathaniel Stiefel, Jeremiah Stiefel, Matthew Morrow, Jason Woods, Ryan Woods and Austin Farmer.


The family requests memorial contributions be made to:

Mid-America Teen Challenge Cape Girardeau, Mo. 63701

or

Nelson United Methodist Church 106 E. Washington East Prairie, Mo. 63845

or

United Methodist Church 1700 E. Marshall St. Charleston, Mo. 63834

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