James Francis (Jim) Reed, 87, passed away on December 13, 2024. He was born on May 29,1937, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Barbara Kovacs Reed and Francis Reed. By the time he was four, Jim had lived in Pittsburgh; Orange, Texas; and Honolulu, Hawaii before his parents settled in Detroit, Michigan, where he grew up.
Jim graduated from St. Joseph High School in Detroit and entered the University of Missouri on a Navy ROTC scholarship in 1955. In 1958, while Jim, a senior at Missouri, was home in Detroit during his Christmas break, his cousin introduced him to her freshman roommate at the University of Michigan, Nancy Ruth Huesmann. Jim and Nancy began exchanging letters and seeing each other whenever Jim was in Detroit.
When Jim graduated from the University of Missouri in 1959, he received a degree in civil engineering and was commissioned as an officer in the United States Navy. He was assigned to the USS Braine (DD-630) stationed in San Diego. During his three years on the Braine, he took part in three six-to-eight-month cruises in the Pacific. On his final cruise he rescued a shipmate who had been swept overboard off the coast of Hawaii. For his action, he was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal, the highest non-combat decoration awarded for heroism by the United States Department of the Navy.
On August 4, 1962, Jim and Nancy Huesmann were married at St. Brendan’s Catholic Church in Detroit. After Jim was released from active duty later that month, he enrolled in the University of Michigan where he received a Master of Business Administration degree in 1964. Jim worked in public accounting and became a Certified Public Accountant. His career then included work in both accounting and the construction industry, combining both his engineering and his business degrees.
Jim and Nancy raised five children in West Bloomfield, Michigan, where they lived for almost fifty years. Their family enjoyed camping trips, traveling from coast to coast in both the US and Canada. Once Jim retired, in 2002, he began spending winters in Green Valley, Arizona, where he enjoyed playing golf and volunteering as an AARP tax counselor and at the White Elephant Thrift Store. Soon after he retired, he and Nancy toured Australia and New Zealand. During their years together, they visited all fifty states as well as Europe, Asia, and South America. In 2018, they moved permanently to Green Valley and soon became residents of La Posada.
Jim is survived by Nancy, his wife of 62 years, and their children, Mary Christine Reed, J.D. (Dr. Robert Read), Dr. Michael Reed (Kristin Toner Reed), Dr. Kathleen Foote (Taylor Foote), Dr. Maureen Reed (Dr. Patrick Walsh), and Dr. Karen Reed (Dr. Michael Ejercito). Jim was very proud of his children and their accomplishments. He is survived by eleven grandchildren, Kelvin and Hannah Read, Elizabeth and Andrew Reed, Reed and Selby Foote, Eamon and Teresa Walsh, and Sierra, Felicity, and Dante Ejercito. He is also survived by his sister, Sheila Reed Bucci, and his brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Rowell and Penny Huesmann, as well as nieces and nephews.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials to the Community Food Bank Green Valley (communityfoodbank.org/get-involved/donate/) or the Salvation Army (give.SalArmy-Swest.org). A funeral Mass, preceded by military honors, will take place at Our Lady of the Valley in Green Valley on Saturday, December 28, at 9:30 a.m. The Mass will be followed by an inurnment blessing at the La Posada Columbarium (in the Central Park, near the Pavilion building) and a reception at the La Posada Recreation Center.
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