Delmer Reed Obituary

Delmer Harold "Del" Reed, Jr., passed away in Savannah, Georgia, on October 31, 2023, at age 80.
Del was a loving person who would not hesitate to help a stranger in need; actually, he never met a stranger.
He is survived by his children Delmer Harold "Hal" Reed III, Teresa Reed Griffith (Mark), and Michele Reed, by his grandchildren Landon Holley (Kristina), Holly Burleson (John) and Delmer Reed (Sarah), Shawn Kash Baggot, and by his great grandchildren Justin and Jason Burleson, and Willoughby and Eleanor Reed. He is also survived by his first wife, Carole Curry, and by his three siblings: Jon Anthony Reed (Elma), Carlton Kent Reed (Pat), and Katherine Michele Reed.
Del was preceded in death by his loving wife, Barbara Ann Ferrell Reed, his parents Delmer Harold Reed and Dorothy Katherine Hawley (Reed) Ackenhusen and his grandparents Katherine Melissa Wells Hawley and William Harold Hawley, and his grandparents Sylvester V. Reed and Anna Dent Mallory Reed.
Del's family history in WV goes back to before the Revolutionary War, and even after moving from the State in later years, he always thought of West Virginia and South Charleston as home. Del grew up and lived for many years in South Charleston, WV. He was an all-around student athlete in both junior high and high school. He was selected "Athlete of the Year" at Spring Hill Junior High where he set State track records that stood for many years. Even though he was hampered by a severe knee injury from football, he was the catcher on the South Charleston American Legion baseball team that defeated Huntington for the State championship.
After graduating from SCHS in 1961, Del attended WVU before leaving college to begin a widely varied career. He was a welder at FMC during the Vietnam war, then moved on to become the manager of the third largest lumber yard in the U.S. He left 84 Lumber to open an unfinished furniture business in Spring Hill before getting into the real estate field, both selling and building houses. He also began teaching what he knew about construction for the Job Corps in Charleston, WV, and later in Columbia, SC. From there he moved to Georgia and got into the mortgage finance side of the real estate business where he worked for much of the rest of his professional life. While Del lived an active and crazy life, he had a lifelong passion for woodworking and for hunting and fishing. He even skipped his high school prom to go fishing. He was an expert level fisherman who often served as a fishing guide for professional fishermen and fishing magazine writers looking to Del for fishing holes in WV.
Later in life, he became a long-standing member of a hunting club near Pooler, GA. Although he was an expert hunter, the hunt club was a place he could enjoy being outside with Barbara and could swap stories with his hunting buddies.
When his health deteriorated after Barbara's death, he moved to Knoxville, Tennessee to live with his granddaughter, Holly, and her family. He taught his great grandchildren a little about carpentry and a lot about fishing. When the downward direction of his health became more certain, he moved back to Pooler so he could spend a little more time in the rugged outdoors with his good friends from the hunting club knowing his life was coming to an end.
An intimate celebration of life will be held with family and invited close friends in the Spring.
He will be missed by many!