Sally J Reed

On December 19, 1936 at 5:10 a.m. Dr. Flanagan made it through the snow just in time to deliver me into this world in a big farm house where my parents Arnold and Sadie Luebcke lived. I was born a month early during the Great Depression. My father was the manager of a farm in Crown Point, Indiana. In 1938 my sister, Carole was born. Then in 1942 my brother, Arnold (Butch) was born. My father was very happy to have a son finally!

In 1940 my father got a job to be the manager of Congressman William T. Schulte’s 500 acre dairy farm near Lowell, Indiana. The farm had 40 cows to milk morning and night, bred Holstein cattle, several pigs, many chickens, 2 horses and always turkeys for November and December holidays. My father hired a fellow to help him with all the work to be done on this farm. Yes we drank raw milk, churned our own butter, mother baked homemade bread in an old fashion cook stove and we planted a huge garden every year. Then came the canning of vegetables and fruit from the different fruit trees on the farm. LOTS of work!

My sister and I went to a two room school house one mile from where we lived. We walked to school every day because there was no bus service on the gravel road where we lived. The school had grades from 1st to 8th. Next to the school was the Community Church which we went to every Sunday. Also one of the ladies from church had Bible study every Wednesday in her home after school. My sister and I always went to that.

My mother because a 4-H leader for the county so my sister and I joined 4-H. In the summer of 1951 my father resigned from working for Congressman Schulte. Then we moved to my paternal grandfather’s farm near Crown Point, Indiana to take care of him. My father got a job working in the US Steel Mill in Gary, Indiana and also farmed my grandfather’s farm where he raised beef cattle and chickens. Again living on the farm always lots of work where all the family worked together to make success of the farm. So thankful for my Dad, Mom, Sister and Brother. We were a hard working team!

Went to high school at Merrillville, Indiana. Graduated in 1955. Then started to work for Calumet Title Insurance Company. Worked my way up to being assistant supervisor in the Preliminary Department. In this department we did the title search on each property, which required spending time in recorder’s office at the Court House, to get information needed in preparing the final paper work for the buyers. I worked 11 years for the title company. In 1966 I moved to Concord, CA to live with my aunt. My aunt and her friend always went dancing at a ballroom in Oakland on Saturday nights and they invited me to go with them. This fellow Howard Reed, asked me to dance and we danced all evening together. He asked me if I would like to go with him to Lake Tahoe the next day. Which I accepted. He was a hairdresser and owned a beauty shop in Oakland and also Concord. He was divorced and had one son. We started dating.

In 1967 I took the civil service exam and was asked to come to the USDA, Soil Conservation Service in Berkeley for an interview to work in the procurement department. I was hired and started to work in June 1967. I also enrolled in Laney College in Oakland and got an AA degree in business administration.

In 1968 after Howard and I had been dating for two years we got married on September 28, 1968. We brought a one bedroom home by Mills College. It was cute little rustic looking home. Howard decided he would like to remodel our home. He added on five rooms, we both worked on it and when we finished getting it built in 1973, the office where I worked in Berkeley gave us the news that the office was going to move to Davis. My husband felt it was time for him to retire from the beauty business. So I was willing to move with the office to Davis and was transferred to the contracting department.

Howard and I brought our home on Gibson Road in Woodland, CA in September 1973. Howard also started buying homes that needed repairs; some needed a lot of repairs. When he finished repairs he would rent them out. This because quite a business for him and he did very well in it. He repaired one 4-plex, two duplexes, and five houses then rented them. He sold four to tenants and carried the mortgage for a while on all.

I worked my way up to being the Contracting Officer for SCS for the State of CA and supervised three people. In this department we put out bids for building concrete, rock riprap channels and built a couple of dams in Tehachapi. I traveled to all the job sights up and down the state of CA. Worked very close with the engineer and design departments. Also traveled to the USDA building in Washington DC for meetings with other Contracting Officers. When there were floods, fires or earth quakes, it seemed like there were always damages around water ways where our agency would get involved in repairing. This was called EWP (Emergency Watershed Project). On my job I worked with a lot of Flood Control Districts in the counties where we had work to do. It was an interesting job and I met a lot of good people. I retired in December 1995.

When we moved up to Woodland we had gone to several churches. So Betty Bramham worked for SCS and we carpooled along with Virgil Backland. Betty told us we should go to St. John’s United Church. Howard and I went and liked the Minister, Arlan Feck, and the people were very friendly. We started going to the church and joined the church. I believe it was in the late 70s. We love the beauty of the old church, the minister and the people who made you feel like family. After I retired we brought a motor home and did a lot of traveling and also brought a timeshare in Orlando, Florida where we could exchange to go anywhere in the US and other countries. We have been in all the states in the US, many places in Canada, Mexico and Europe. We sure enjoyed Hawaii and Alaska.

I have gone deer and antelope hunting with Howard in Montana with his family who lived there. We had 35 acres in Westcliff, Colorado where we used to camp and hunt elk and deer. We wanted to build a home and move there but it was too cold in the winter.

I had many potted plants and tried to keep them alive. I enjoyed playing cards and always enjoyed dancing with my husband. My favorite food was salmon with sweet potato or rice and lemon meringue pie for dessert.

I found that after my husband passed away I was determined to keep up with what we had together and believed and trusted in God who was always there watching over me. I am thankful for my church family and all the support they had given me. I became active in the church after my husband passed away in February 2007. I worked on the Lay-Life or now Congregational Life Committee, Alter duty usually in July and Noreen Chase and I served refreshments the second Sunday of each month. I also helped with rummage sales. My husband and I always believed in exercise. We joined the Cross Court Athletic Club when we moved to Woodland. They were just starting to build it then. I remanded a member for many years.

I felt very blessed to have my step son, who has always been like a son, James Reed and daughter-in-law Michelle Reed. My two granddaughters Amy Reed and Jenny Pulliam (maiden Reed). My grandson Jared Reed. My three great grandsons Jacob VerPlanck, Christopher Pulliam and Alexander Reed. My two great granddaughters Zoey Pulliam and Natalia Reed. My wonderful family who live in Idaho and Southern California. My father Arnold, mother Sadie, sister Carole, brother Butch, brother-in-law Phillip Salyer, sister-in-law Annette Luebecke have all passed away. So blessed to still have my family listed below: My niece Dawn and her husband Sam. My niece April and her husband Scot. My nephew David and his wife Elizaheth. My nephew Jeffrey and is partner Christine and their children Madelyn and Alexander. My nephew Terry and his wife Reyna and their daughter Lucena Sadie.

My mother always said, “Where there is a will there is a way.”