J. William Reinhard

J. William (Bill) Reinhard passed away at home, surrounded by loving family, on November 22, 2024, two weeks shy of his 98th birthday. Bill was born in Chiang Mai, Siam, where his father was employed as health inspector to the Siamese government from 1924-1927. After their return to the U.S., the Reinhard family settled in Lincoln, Nebraska, and Bill enjoyed a mid-western childhood with his two sisters, Mary and Anne. In 1944 he served briefly with the U.S. Navy before contracting rheumatic fever and receiving a medical discharge. He came to Tucson in 1945, arriving via the Golden State Limited train on his 19th birthday, and his love affair with Tucson and the west began.

Bill completed undergraduate studies at the U of A and was a member of the College of Pharmacy’s 1952 graduating class. Dr. Rufus Lyman, founding dean of the UA College of Pharmacy, was another Nebraska transplant and a friend of Bill’s father. Bill started his own business, Town & Country Pharmacy, in 1962, adding the T & C Pharmacy in 1972. He made regular financial donations to the College of Pharmacy and also gifted his collection of 72 mortar/pestle sets and scores of drugstore bottles to the school.

Bill met Tucson native, Shirley Barwood, at the U of A, and the two married in 1949. They shared a passion for the Southwest--its native peoples, history and stunning vistas—and took daughters, Pam and Becky, on many Arizona adventures. Family vacations also included trips to most of the Western national parks, where campfire talks and hikes with Dad transferred his deep love of nature to his girls. Bill was an avid landscaper and gardener, transforming his home on a scrubby desert lot into a beautiful showplace and his petrified wood mosaics won several prizes at the Arizona State Fair.

Bill’s first wife, Shirley, passed from cancer in 1976, and he met Thelma Runner Riley, in 1981. Drawn to one another through love of home and family plus a zest for adventure, they married in 1982. Travels continued and they saw the world together, enjoying forty years of marriage before Thelma’s passing.

Bill’s steady, supportive, caring countenance will be missed by his family. He is survived by daughters Pamela Gylling (Robert), Rebecca Foreman (Ronald), Nephew Michael Edholm and Niece Susan Wenz (Rudolf), grandsons Roger and Brian Foreman, stepchildren Bonnie Riley and Scott Riley (Judy) step grandson Justin Riley (Renia) and their children Aurelia and Isaac. He was preceded in death by wives Shirley and Thelma and stepson Mike Riley.

Many thanks to the kind, loving staff from Mountain View Retirement Village and Casa De La Luz Hospice, and to Bill’s special companion, Jennifer Thomas

A graveside service for J. will be held at 1:30 PM on Monday, December 9, 2024 at East Lawn Palms Cemetery, 5801 E Grant Rd,Tucson, AZ 85712.