Obituary of Henry P. Reynolds, Jr.

Henry P. Reynolds, Jr.

August 31, 1924 - April 14, 2019

Henry Philip Reynolds, Jr. of Duxbury passed away peacefully in the company of his children on April 14.  He was 94 years old. Son of Henry P. Reynolds and Laura McGuire Reynolds, Henry (Hank) was raised in Wellesley, Massachusetts and graduated from Wellesley High School in 1943. He served in the U.S. Army, landed on Utah Beach in the summer of 1944 and marched across France into Germany, helping to liberate towns and villages from wartime occupation. After the war, he studied mechanical engineering at Brown University (’50) where he met his wife of 59 years, Alice Gertrude Farrell of West Warwick, Rhode Island.  Together they raised four children in Cranston, RI; South Bend, IN; Northbrook, IL and; Woodbridge, CT.

Hank had a long and successful career with U.S. Rubber/Uniroyal, Inc. in Providence, RI; South Bend, IN; Chicago, IL and;  Middlebury, CT.  He retired as Senior Vice President of the plastics division, having overseen manufacturing operations in both the U.S and Europe.

In retirement, Hank was active in the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Woodbridge, CT, where he served as Commander, and later was a board member and chaplain for the Duxbury Post 223 American Legion.   Hank had a competitive spirt and enjoyed many adventures with dear friends and family all along the way, including speedboat racing in Narragansett Bay and Long Island Sound, skiing, tennis, horseshoes, sailing, yoga, gardening, bowling and mountain climbing.  He and Alice enjoyed traveling across the U.S. with their children, and through Great Britain, the European continent, Egypt, Hong Kong and Taiwan. As a retiree, Hank embarked on yet another journey, riding 50,000 miles on his bike, including many Pan Mass Challenge Sturbridge-to-Provincetown rides and a 23-mile ride with his family through Duxbury on his 90th birthday. For the last 13 years, he celebrated Flag Day with the students at the Alden School and Chandler School, took part in Duxbury’s Memorial Day and July 4 parades, and was an active member of Holy Family Church and a regular at the Duxbury Senior Center.

Hank is survived by his sister Ruth Reynolds Kelley of Petaluma, CA; son Michael H. Reynolds of Duxbury; daughter Mary R. O’Connor and her husband James C. O’Connor of West Chester, PA; son Stephen F. Reynolds and his wife Emily Reynolds of Barrington, IL and; daughter Anne R. Ward and her husband George Ward of Duxbury as well as his grandchildren Maureen O’Connor Manfrey; Flannery O’Connor DeSantos; Siobhan O’Connor; Allyson Manaloto Reynolds, all of Pennsylvania; Caroline A. Reynolds of Glendale, CA; and Benjamin Michael Reynolds, Patrick Henry Reynolds, George Henry Ward; Mary Kate Ward and Jack Reynolds Ward of Duxbury. He also leaves four great-grandchildren.  He was preceded in death by his wife Alice, sisters Mary G. Reynolds and Isabel R. Wartman, grandson Ryan S. O’Connor and daughter-in-law Myrna M. Reynolds.

Calling hours will be on Monday, April 22 from 6pm to 8pm at Shepherd Funeral Home in Kingston, MA. A funeral Mass will be celebrated at Holy Family Church in Duxbury on April 23 at 10:00 am.  Burial will take place at St. Patrick’s Cemetery in Whitinsville, MA at 2:30pm.  In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in Hank’s memory to the Pan Mass Challenge at www.panmass@pmc.org or to the Prader-Willi Syndrome Association (USA) at pwsausa.org.