Shirley A. & Alva L. Reed

NORTH ANSON – It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of our Mom and Dad but also with joy as they are now in heaven with their Lord and Savior. Alva L. Reed, 91, passed away on May 13, 2022. Alva was born on July 8, 1930, in Madison. He was the son of the late Lloyd L. Reed and Mildred L. Brooks. He attended Madison schools and served in the Navy as an electrician aboard a submarine after graduation from Madison High School.

Shirley A. Reed, 94, passed away on Aug. 5, 2023. Shirley was born in Milford, Massachusetts, on July 8, 1929. She was the daughter of the late Lee Fletcher and Katherine Fleena. She attended Madison schools, graduating from Madison High School.

Alva and Shirley were high school sweethearts and were married on May 20, 1950 in Madison where they lived until settling in North Anson in 1962 where they started a family. They were married for 72 wonderful years living on their own in North Anson into their 90’s.

Shirley worked for Depositors Trust in Madison as a teller for many years where she loved interfacing with customers before starting a family in 1963. After being honorably discharged from the Navy Submarine Service in 1950, Alva worked for the railroad in Waterville for 10 years as a dispatcher. In 1961 Alva changed careers and became a salesman for North Anson Reel Company where he worked to become Vice President, finally retiring as President of Sonoco Products in 1995.

Shirley was a devoted mom and homemaker. She was actively involved in her boys school programs, a Den Mother in Cub Scouts with her sons, loved painting, singing, planting flowers, craft projects, cooking, spending time at the family camp in Embden and sailing the Virgin Islands with family and friends. Alva was a devoted dad. He was actively involved in Boys Scouts with his sons, attending many hikes and camping trips, loved to fish and hunt and obtained his private pilots license, flying on countless adventures for work and with friends and family all over Maine as well as for work. He was an accomplished sailor and he loved sailing the BVI with friends and family for many years. He also served as President of the Board for Redington Fairview General Hospital.

Fond family memories of snowmobile cookouts, ice fishing, camping in the great Maine wilderness, making popcorn balls for Christmas, walks in the woods to the Big Mountain, evening boat rides, Sunday boiled dinners after church, Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners with family, hot brown sugar and walnut brownies, pink dip, going out to eat on Saturday nights and music and singing and love always in the house will be missed, but these cherished family traditions will be what we remember and carry on. Mom also often spoke of and to “her Shepherd” and how she looked forward to the day she and Alva would meet him.

Grammy and Grampy were blessed with 4 grandchildren whom they loved to the moon and back and loved spending as much time with them as possible attending any school event possible and spending time together at the camp in Embden. Their home in North Anson was always open as neighborhood kids were welcome to stop in anytime and help themselves to the cookie jar.

Alva and Shirley are survived by their two boys, Robert and his wife Jessica of Vassalboro and David of Scarborough, their four grandchildren Rebecca, Joshua, Seth and Paige. Extended family includes Carolee Barron and family, Gail Saucier and family, Sheila and Dave Henderson and family, Laurie Ferguson and the late Bill Ferguson, Jan Kelly and the late Don Kelly and family, the Estes family, the Fowler family and the Welch family.

The family would like to thank Goudreau’s Retirement Inn in Winslow for their love and wonderful care of Mom for the past year and Mt Saint Joseph’s in Waterville for their excellent care of both Mom and Dad during their stays. We would also like to thank Redington-Fairview General Hospital and Redington Family Practice and Maine General Hospital for their care and support of Mom and Dad through the years. And a special thank you to Pat and Bobby Hinds of North Anson, Carolee Baron of Madison and Frank and Dot Manzer of North Anson for always being there for mom and dad.

As per both their requests, there will be a private family service.