Our Family History: Lawrence Joseph Reynolds

4. Lawrence Joseph Reynolds, son of Joseph Zachariah and Elizabeth Etta (Jones) Reynolds, was born 19 January 1926 in Fredonia, Wilson, Kansas. [1] He died 14 August 1979 in Woods Cross, Davis, Utah and buried 20 August 1979 in Fredonia, Wilson, Kansas.[2] He married about 21 October 1947 in Independence, Montgomery, Kansas, Leda Jean Miller.[3]

Not much is known about his childhood except that he grew up on the family farm. He was the youngest of eleven children and was often favored. He also suffered the wrath of his father’s hand. Lawrence, along with all his siblings, was terrified of their father.

Shortly after his father’s death, Lawrence was induced in the United States Navy during World War II. He trained at the Farragut Naval Training Station on Lake Pend Oreille in Bayview, Idaho. After training he worked at the US Naval Ammunition Depot in Hawthorne, Nevada. Because of the chemicals in the bombs he worked with, he was not able to have children for a while. He was honorably discharged on 25 March 1946 in Norman, Oklahoma.[4] Afterwards, he worked as a ditch digger and later with the Railroad.

Wanting Lawrence to move to Idaho, Lawrence’s brother Ray got him a job with Simplot, which was an agriculture company. Later he took a position with the Union Pacific Railroad which transferred the family to Utah.

He had a handmade wooden box that he kept his treasured possessions in. Among some of the items in the box at the time of his death was the silk pillowcase he gave to Leda, a bracelet given to Leda, and a baby binkie from his childhood.

Lawrence started to suffer complications from hardening of the arteries which included confusion. He felt that people were watching him so he refused to throw things away. He also felt that the television told him to purchase certain items.

[1] Kansas Department of Health and Environment, Vital Records, Birth Certificate Wilson County, Kansas, No. 103 7208, Lawrence Joseph Reynolds, 19 January 1926.

[2] Find A Grave, database, Find A Grave (www.findaggrave.com : 15 July 2016), Lawrence Joseph Reynolds.

[3] Dale Joseph Reynolds, interview, July 2016.

[4] US Navy Discharge, Lawrence Joseph Reynolds, Seaman Second Class, SV6 USN R, Norman, Oklahoma, 25 March 1946; privately held by Nicol Montero, [address for private use], Eagle Mountain, Utah.