Lucille Reynolds
On June 21, 2015 at 7 a.m., our mother, Lucille Reynolds, left this mortal world after almost 98 years of life. She was born on July 22,1917.
Anyone granted the pleasure of knowing her would have realized early on the value of her incredible wisdom in the navigation of daily living. Her recommendations were usually short and to the point and so seldom dispensed that you tried desperately to absorb every word she uttered.
A retired RN and hospital supervisor, World War II combat nurse as well as wife and the mother of five children left her little room for drama. Common sense and an unyielding definition of fairness was how she dealt with the obstacles in her life.
We will never forget her advice for enjoying life. She would tell us often, “It’s better to wear out than it is to rust out.”
That belief along with a general impatience of things that are, sent her to a career in nursing. She left her family on their South Dakota farm and went to nurses training. Post training she worked a short time in Arizona and Iowa.
In May of 1941 at the age of 24, she joined the Army Nursing Corp. Not content to spend her military career stateside she served her country overseas in war time combat zones. Her four years of duty included tours in Tunisia, Naples, Foggia, Rome and Arno.
She didn’t often speak of the war, but did share memories of surgeries in tent hospitals, moving patients through deep mud on litters relocating to hospitals across the road. Warm beds and good food were only memories from home. As she recalled these events to us she would always end with a smile and tell us there was never anything too good for “her boys”. Her patients were like friends, not simply casualties of war.
Between nursing duties and her care of psychiatric patients she still managed to meet and marry the love of her life, John W. Reynolds. A romance usually reserved for Hollywood movies would unroll.
As much as the war would allow, they managed to spend time falling in love while exploring Italy. It was quite a party.
On our father’s military plane our mother’s name was proudly displayed. The red leather sandals he brought her from Rome still sit on the closet floor. One of the greatest of Mom’s memories for us, however, was when our father would fly his plane over the hospital where our mother was stationed and drop messages from his plane. Hospital wards would happily retrieve these notes and deliver them to mother’s hands.
Air Force mustang fighter pilot; beautiful army nurse; how could this end in anything but forever. In December 1944 they were married at at Fifteenth Air Force fighter base in Italy.
Mom’s military career lasted four years. In that time she was awarded three Bronze Stars, an American Defense Service Medal as well as a European-African- Middle Eastern Theatre Campaign Medal.
In 1945 she and our dad were discharged from the Army. Within the next two years our Dad re-enlisted in the Air Force. Mom followed him to various military bases managing to have a family of five children along the way.
Mom was one of those rare individuals who were always eager for a move. She would say to us “A bad move is better than no move at all.” They relocated to various bases stateside as well as overseas tours in the Philippines Islands and Puerto Rico. Traversing across the globe (often unaccompanied by our father) with a batch of children seemed effortless for our mother.
After returning from the Philippines our father was once again stationed at and retired from Malmstrom Air force base in Great Falls. Mom returned to nursing and assumed the tasks of a night supervisor at Deaconess Hospital.
When dad retired in 1969 they moved to the Flathead Valley. Another move and another career for mom. She accepted the position as the night supervisor at Kalispell Regional Hospital and dad ran a small gunsmith shop in Kalispell for a friend. They built a home south of Whitefish and settled down to raise the last remaining children.
Dad passed away in the fall of 1972. Mom remained working at the hospital until she retired in 1989. Even after retiring she never let her feet sit too idle. She took a few cruises, traveled to see family, and remained active with her church and friends.
A short move in 1993 took her to the house she would remain at until the age of 94. In Jan of 2011 she became a resident of the Montana Veterans Home. That was the last move she would every make.
Mom’s resume was impressive with her military record as well as the respect and love she received from those nurses who had the privilege of working with her. But more valuable than any of those accomplishments was the integrity she was able to instill in her children. She taught us to be kind. She always said, “You don’t know what people endure in their lives, it’s not fair to judge, give people a break, always be kind.” She lived her life by those words and always put her own needs last.
Sadly, another member of a great generation has passed on. She was more than our mother, she was a dear friend, a mentor, and the glue which held the family together. She will be truly missed by all. We could have selfishly asked her to stay, just a little longer, maybe until her 100th birthday, but we weren’t raised that way.
Entrusted to carrying on her beliefs and sharing her memories are Susan and Paul Skites of Wilsonville Ore.; Bill and Kathleen Reynolds of Kalispell; Mary and Bill Smith of Oregon City, Ore.; John and Rosalind Reynolds of Prescott Ariz.; and Michelle Holdgrafer of Columbia Falls, as well as many loving grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
There will be a Catholic Mass at the Veterans’ Home Chapel and a burial to follow at Custer National Battlefield Cemetery.