"Tommy" Hugh Thomas Reed

It is with a sad and heavy heart that today I pass the news of the death of our “Uncle Tommy”. Born Hugh Thomas Reed 03/27/1928 in Michigan. He passed Wednesday at the age of 92. Uncle Tommy traveled with his family throughout the United states living in frontier towns from Montana to Arizona and finally landing with his family in Southern California.

At 18 he joined the armed forces during WW2 and worked as a receiving medic. Tending to and transporting soldiers, broken physically and mentally as they transitioned from the field to civilian life. After the service he continued his Medic career as the operating manager of an ambulance service for the next 25 years. Later following his family to Kentucky where he took up bartending and managed one of the largest show bars in Louisville Kentucky for an additional 20 years before suffering a near fatal heart attack. He retired to the family farm to convalesce before deciding to move west again. He moved to Arizona to live next door to us in 2003 and had spent the last 17 years as an integral part of our family. Uncle Tommy loved dogs, gardening and was an avid movie and music collector. Many a night we could hear him blasting the speakers with a variety of music from Beethoven to Queen. Sipping Grey Goose over ice, or a Kahlua and coffee at family dinners, BBQ and family events was a simple pleasure he enjoyed till the day he died. The perfect Martini was his passion. In 2018 along with his nephew he made the Honor Flight trip to Washington to see the WW2 Memorial. It was one of the highlights of his later years. Uncle Tommy was fiercely independent. He is survived by one Brother Terry Reed and his wife Patti, multiple nieces and nephews from 3 generations. We will miss him; we were blessed to have him in our lives. He will be interned at the National Memorial Cemetery of Arizona.