MELVIN LEROY REED

         Melvin LeRoy Reed was born 1 Feb. 1883 on a farm near Elliott, Iowa; the son of Frederick Reed and Sarah Angeline Eastes. He  attended school but only through the eighth grade. He married Grace Mabel Goltry, daughter of Edwin Lewis Goltry and Emma Adair Duff, on 20 Feb. 1907. Grace graduated from High School and attended Simpson College at Indianola, Iowa for a period of time. She taught school before being married.

    Their children were: two sons who died early in infancy; Merle Elton Reed born 2 Feb. 1911; Ronald Redell Reed born 26 Nov. 1913.

    Melvin was always known in local circles as "Dick" Reed and many did not know who you were talking about if you mentioned M. L. Reed. It was said that it was a nickname that he gave himself when a young boy. "Dick" lived most of his life as a farmer in the Elliott area. In 1918, when he was planning to buy a farm near Bedford, his father sold him 120 acres of the "home" place, retaining 40 acres for himself. Except for a winter in California, this is where he lived until he moved off the farm because of ill health, in 1925. He acquired an insurance business and moved into Elliott.

    He died at his home in Elliott, Iowa on 31 July 1930 from stomach cancer and was buried in Waveland Cemetery near Elliott. Grace survived him by many years and died on 28 July 1971 at the California Christian Home in Rosemead, California. Burial was also in Waveland Cemetery.