Stanley Wint Reynolds

By Mrs. Kim Lee (Daughter)

The only way to fail is to give up. Whatever comes, whatever happens, keep going. Fix your eyes on the goal, and persist. Your vision, your commitment, and your actions will take you there. When you can make great big strides, make them. When you can take only small steps, take them. See every moment as the opportunity that it is. When the wind is at your back, keep going, and when the wind is blowing against you, keep going. Make good and effective use of whatever you encounter. Know precisely where you wish to go and why. Keep going, and you will be (are) there. -- Ralph Marston

My father never saw this quote but his life exemplified every word. He had big dreams which seem more than he could reach for, but my brother and I are living proof of his will to make a better life for us. Born in a rural farming community of Reeds Mound, Ashton District and Westmoreland on May 25, 1933 to Louise Alexina Clarke and Marty Emmanuel Reynolds where he was the youngest of seven children. Dad attended Ashton School on and off because his family like many could not afford to send the children to school on a regular basis. He began working at a very young age on a 4 acre subsistence family plot to assist his father and brothers. He left the district in his mid-teens to seek a better life in Jericho, Hanover where he met and lived with the Braham family who became lifelong friends and an influence on his life and later the reason why he became a Seventh Day Adventist.

An industrious youth, Dad started working at various labor intensive jobs such as: Road Work, Farm Work and Yard Work if he could find it. The period in time was post World War II when opportunities were few for a person with minimal education, but he persevered through the hard times ahead.

Through the kindness that the Braham family showed Dad while he lived with them, he accepted Lord as his savior and was baptized into the Adventist message and was encouraged to attend West Indies College in his early twenties(now Northern Caribbean University), in Mandeville, Manchester. He completed a brief stint before moving to Kingston to work with the Jamaica Postal Service on King Street. Dad attended Kencot Seventh Day Adventist Church, where he met Cherry Mae Evans in 1967, whom he later married on April 28, 1968 at the same church. Opportunity finally came knocking in July 1968 when he was offered the chance to receive training in Bakery Operations and Management by the Bishop family. He travelled to the training facility located in Tennessee, Tennessee.

On October 23, 1968, the Reynolds family was blessed with a little boy, Paul Wint. With a young family to feed, Dad felt the wind at his back when he with the Vassell family, who convinced him to move to New York in winter of 1968 to broaden his horizons. It was there that he completed the Emergency Medical Technician Training and started working at Kings County Hospital where I was born, October 28, 1970. He attended Hanson Place Seventh Adventist Church, where he was an active member of the choir. This was something that gave him so much joy. My father loved music, classical and opera was his favorite. There were many occasions growing up where I would see him with his eyes closed totally transported by what he was hearing.

Working in a field fraught with danger and occupational hazards, Dad was injured in the field. But being a diligent and reliable employee, the city of New York transferred him to the dispatch department where he worked until his departure in June 1979 when he moved to Florida.

Lured by the warm salubrious climes, he started him stint as a Patient Care Attendant at Westside Regional Hospital (formerly known as Bennett Hospital) where he worked until he retired. A member of the Plantation Seventh Day Adventist, Dad dedicated his time and efforts in various projects including fundraising for this current church building. My brother and I have great memories of walking though the neighborhood singing Christmas carol and collecting money during ingathering. In retirement he contributed to his community by assisting at his local Polling station on election days. Throughout his life he gave of himself where he could, whether it was assisting widows in the neighborhood by tending their lawns, giving blood on a regular basis or sharing the bounty of his trees (one year we nearly floated away on the sea of grapefruit). His greatest joy was to work in his prize winning yard which was considered the best in the area. Thank you Dad for passing on your determination to me, Thank you for showing me that refinement is something that you cannot buy, it is inside. Thank you for teaching me that your word is your bond. You were a difficult, stubborn man but you were predictable and dependable. You will be sadly missed by all.

A Memorial Service will be held on Sunday, April 25, 2010 at the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Plantation, Florida at 11:00 a.m.