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Glenn Denny Reed was born in Covina, June 30, 1928. He was the third child of Judge Thomas Black Reed and Edith Hazel Waterhouse Reed. His grandfather was Covina's “horse and buggy doctor”, James Denny Reed, MD who came to Covina in 1890.
Glenn attended Covina Grammar School and graduated from Covina High School in 1945 when the campus was on the west side of Citrus St. south of Dexter St. In his youth, he played in and later worked in Covina's orange groves helping with spraying and smudging when workers were scarce during the war. He earned his bachelor's degree from the University of California at Berkeley then studied at Hastings School of Law in San Francisco for two years. He completed his law degree in Los Angeles at Southwestern Law School in 1954.
While preparing for the Bar exam, he worked as a teller at Covina National Bank, co-founded by his grandfather and managed by his uncle, Jim Reed.
Glenn spent his summers at the family beach house in Balboa where he met Donna Irwin of Pasadena. Their relationship continued through four summers at the beach. In January 1955, after passing the Bar, and the death of his father, Glenn and Donna married. Upon returning from their honeymoon, Glenn, with his new bride, lived in his childhood home on San Bernardino Road. His mother, Edith, moved to a smaller house nearby.
Glenn started his law practice and his family in Covina. In the first 6 years of their marriage, Glenn and Donna had 3 children, Steve, Susie, and Sandy. During this time, Donna was playing fast-pitch softball with Glenn as team manager.
In 1967 Glenn bought a sailboat and began 25 years of very successful yacht racing with Donna and Steve as crew. He also took many coastal cruises with the whole family. He was an active member of Covina Host Lion's Club and Covina United Methodist Church. On Wednesdays at lunchtime he played indoor volleyball with a group comprised mainly of other Covina lawyers.
Glenn wrapped up his Covina-based law practice when he settled the estate of his cousin Lora Allison who live in Covina to the age of 100.
In retirement, Glenn began playing doubles tennis on week-day mornings a block away from home at Covina Park. He had a hip replaced at age 80 and continued playing tennis to age 90. He also found time to officiate girl's softball and volleyball at the high school level.
Also in retirement, and of greatest interest to the people of Covina, Glenn set up a model train layout in the basement of his home. He added a model of the old Covina train station, followed by models of adjacent orange packing houses, followed by...well, you know what happened.
The model train set turned into a Covina history project. Eventually the “Vintage Covina” model outgrew the basement and moved to the “train shed” in their backyard.
At the time of his passing in April 2021 Glenn was just completing the 100th building.
Glenn lived nearly 93 years in the home his father built in 1925 on West San Bernardino Rd. He was the last of the many J.D. Reed descendants living in Covina.
Glenn is survived by his son Steve, daughter Sandy Wulf, daughter Susie Reed, Grandchildren Brian Reed and Rebeka McCurnin and great grandchildren Luke, Miles and Clara Reed.
--Steve Reed
This article was originally published in the June, 2021 issue of "The Covina Citrus Peal," the official newsletter of the Covina Valley Historical Society, and is reproduced here with the permission of the Reed family.
