Deceased September 30, 2009

View alumni profile (log in required)
Read obituary


In Memory

Dave Reed died Sept. 30, 2009, in Rifle, Colo., after a long illness. He was born in Brookline, Mass., and graduated from Concord (Mass.) High School. During high school, he had a summer job caring for sled dogs at Chinook Kennels in Wonalancet, N.H., which provided dogs for one of Admiral Richard Byrd’s Antarctic expeditions.

In 1943, he enlisted in the U.S. Army’s 10th Mountain Division and served in the European theater. 

Following discharge, he enrolled at Amherst under the G.I. bill, joined Phi Alpha Psi and was active in Masquers, the ski team and the Christian association. 

In 1954 he married Faith Trumbull, whose family owned the Country Store in Concord, Mass. In the 1960s he managed Kerley, Reed & Bryant’s General Store in Harvard, Mass., where his father had been a partner for many years. He initiated the sale of clothing at the store, emulating the model of the Country Store. 

He was a member of the Rotary Club of Ayer, Mass., and was active in Harvard town affairs. He and Faith raised three daughters in Harvard before moving to Colorado in 1971, where he served in various sales capacities prior to his retirement in 1989. For many years they returned to New England for summer visits to Harvard and to Mashnee Island on Cape Cod. 

Faith predeceased Dave in 2008. He is survived by daughters Hope, Abigail and Rachel and granddaughter Brittany. Hope, Rachel and Brittany were with him at the time of his death. His survivors also include a sister and many cousins, nieces and nephews and their offspring. 

His Phi Psi brothers remember him as a quiet, likeable person. They regret having lost touch with him over the years. One recalls that he taught him how to make a good Manhattan. He will be missed.

John Baker ’51