Irene C. Reed

Irene Marie Carlson Reed, 90, of St. Joseph died peacefully in her sleep early Thursday morning, June 10, 2004, at her residence in the Golden Place assisted living facility. Prayer services led by Monsignor Eugene Sears of St. Joseph Catholic Church will take place at graveside at 9 a.m. Saturday morning prior to interment at Riverview Cemetery in St. Joseph. There will be no visitation. Memorials may be made to Hospice at Home of Stevensville or St. Joseph Catholic Church. The Kerley-Starks and Menchinger Family Funeral Home is handling arrangements. Irene was born Feb. 20, 1914, in New Rockford, N.D., to Axel W. and Anna K. (Mary Ann Kramer) Carlson. After New Rockford High School, she attended Valley City Teachers College before graduating from Business College in Bismarck, N.D. She subsequently worked for The Fargo Forum, the daily newspaper of Fargo, N.D., and the Civil Aeronautics Agency’s pre-World War II flight training program. She married Earl Alan Reed of Glenn Ellyn, Ill., at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Fargo in 1941. He served aboard a U.S. Navy cruiser in the South Pacific while she worked for the Veterans Administration during the war. Irene and Earl moved to Fairplain in 1951 and subsequently founded Reed Commercial Electronics Inc. in Benton Harbor. Irene also worked for the Riverwood Mental Health Clinic for a time. In later years, Irene and Earl lived in St. Joseph on Vail Court and wintered at their Scottsdale, Ariz., home. After Earl’s death in 1989, Irene lived at the Whitcomb Tower retirement residence before moving to Golden Place. Survivors include her son, Steven of St. Joseph, a grandson, Robert Reed and his spouse, Marie, of Novi, Mich., and two granddaughters, Rachel Reed of Buchanan and Emily Parker Taylor, and her spouse, Chris, of Mishawaka. She was preceded in death by her husband, her parents, and her sister, Velma “Babe” Lura of rural Carrington, N.D., a grandson, Ryan Reed, and a baby brother.