Harry Day Reed Jr., 90, a resident of Westminster-Canterbury on Chesapeake Bay, died at Westminster-Canterbury Jan. 30, 2003. He was the son of Harry Reed Sr. and Allis Mitchell Reed and was bon in Waycross, Ga., May 4, 1912. After graduating from Waycross High School in 1929, he attended The Citadel in Charleston, S.C., graduating in 1933 with a Bachelor of Science in civil engineering. Between 1933 and 1937, he was employed by several public agencies including the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, the Tennessee Valley Authority and the South Carolina Highway Dept. In 1937 he earned U.S. Civil Service status through examination and was then employed by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey (USC&GS) of the U.S. Dept. of Commerce as a draftsman in Washington, D.C., beginning a 30-year career with that agency. In 1940 he transferred to the field service as a probationary officer on a USC&GS ship. That same year he was commissioned as an ensign in the USC&GS Commissioned Corps, the smallest of the seven U.S. uniformed services and the predecessor of the present NOAA commissioned corps. Thereafter, he served continuously on active duty, rotating between sea duty and shore assignments until his retirement in the grade of captain Jan. 1, 1968. For two years (1944-45) he was assigned to duty with the U.S. Army as an artillery officer stationed in the United States and France. His shore assignments included chief of mobile field survey parties operating mostly in the Midwestern states, officer in charge of the USC&GS New Orleans office and his last assignment before retirement, operations officer and second in command of the NOAA Atlantic Marine Center in Norfolk. His sea duty was on a number of surveying and research vessels which took him to the Atlantic and Pacific coastal waters, Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea and Alaskan duty in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands. He served in all the deck officer billets from junior officer to commanding officer of three different vessels. After retiring from the USC&GS, he was employed by the City of Norfolk, Dept. of Public Works in an engineering position for four years before finally retiring in 1972. Since then he had resided in Norfolk and Virginia Beach until his death. He was a member of All Saints Episcopal Church, 1968 Woodside Lane, Virginia Beach, VA 23454. Survivors include his wife, Gloria Wilkinson Reed; sons, Harry D. Reed III and wife Cathy of Tampa, Fla. and their two sons, Christopher and Neil; Edward J. Reed and wife Janice of Chesapeake and their daughter, Randi; five stepchildren, Gay Wilkinson, John Wilkinson III, Lynn Mauk and husband Tom and their two sons, Elizabeth Doll and husband and their three children and Robert Wilkinson and wife Terry. Besides his parents, he was predeceased by his first wife, Florida May Deckman Reed, a brother and sister. A graveside service will be held at 3 p.m. today in Rosewood Memorial Park next to his first wife. Kellum Funeral Home, Rosewood Chapel, is in charge. Memorial donations may be made to Westminster-Canterbury Fellowship Fund or All Saints Episcopal Church.
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