Lloyd Allan Reed

Lloyd Allan Reed, 81, of Elizabethtown, passed away on September 8, 2020 at his home from Lymphoma Cancer.  He was born March 31, 1939 at the J.C. Blair Memorial Hospital in Huntingdon, PA, to the late Julia Dueno Reedand James Clair Reed.  His mother was born in Puerto Rico and his father was a teacher and farmer in Alexandria, PA.

He is survived by his loving wife of 53 years, Patsy Ann (Meyers) Reed, his son, Andrew Burnell Reed (Marilyn) and his two grandchildren, Charlotte Ann Reed and Allen McMillan Reed all of Elizabethtown. Lloyd is also survived by his brother John Reed (Sharon) of Topeka Kansas and his sister Carmen Parker (Millard) of Conifer Colorado.  

He grew up on an 133-acre farm in Alexandria PA.  The family farm dates back to the founding of the town in 1793, and was an original farm in the Hartslog Valley in an area known as the Loop.  In high school, he earned money cutting wood with Robert Turnbaugh and being a golf caddy at a local course.  He enjoyed hunting with his friend Tommy Simkins.

In 1957, he graduated from Juniata Valley High School and joined the Army.  He was sent to boot camp at Fort Knox, TN and served six months of active duty at Fort Leonard Wood, MO, followed by serving in the reserves until completing his military commitment in 1964. After completing a Penn State extension course in milk testing, he was employed by the Dairy Herd Improvement Association. Encouraged by his brother John, at age 23 he enrolled at Penn State to study agricultural engineering and graduated in 1966.    

He was employed by the United States Geological Survey as a hydrologist for 34 years in the Harrisburg District’s Water Resources Division. He collected water samples for projects involving acid mine drainage and strip mining. Following the Mt. St. Helens eruption, he was sent to the volcano to conduct surveys on impacted streams. He supported the Federal Women’s Program for female co-workers to gain equal pay for equal work. He authored numerous studies and papers on topics such as “Appraisal of Stream Sedimentation in the Susquehanna River Basin”, and “Sediment Runoff During Highway Construction”.  He enjoyed surveying streams to revise Flood Insurance Studies. 

He loved to indulge his passion for golf with Patsy and Andrew. He loved to ski with his sister in Colorado, and to visit Branson, MO, with his brother.  He taught his son and grandchildren to golf, ski, and bowl. In 1972, he was a founding member of the DER Golf League at Sportsman’s in Harrisburg, eventually joined in the league by his wife and son. He played in the golf league for 48 continuous years. He participated in several bowling leagues. One of his fun adventures was keeping his bowling team together for 20 years and never having a winning season.  Finally at Clearview Lanes with his son, their team won first place in the first half of the season and they bowled in the league championship. 

Upon retirement, Lloyd and Patsy moved to Elizabethtown to be close to their grandchildren. They became active with the Elizabethtown Historical Society.  He sewed costumes for himself, Patsy, and Charlotte to portray the founding family of Elizabethtown, Elizabeth and Barnabus Hughes. Every October, he and his wife would dress up and take props to bring the founders to life as part of a walking tour for all the third-grade students of Elizabethtown and he would explain trading with Indians to the students.

He built annual displays of Elizabethtown history to show at the Elizabethtown Fair, including history of Klein Chocolate, local generals of the Civil War, local one-room schoolhouses, stone mileage markers, and the semi-pro Elizabethtown baseball team that once played a game against Babe Ruth and the Boston Red Sox.  He built an arch bridge out of individual blocks of wood, that can be assembled by children, and can hold the weight of an adult walking across to educate children on engineering design.

He helped his family with numerous home and auto projects at which he was adept.  The pride of his later years were his grandchildren, Charlotte and Allen, with whom he loved to ride roller coasters and flume rides at Knoebels and Disney World, play mini-golf and spoil them with his delicious homemade pies.  He loved helping his grandchildren and son set up their annual halloween display by building tunnels,

designing props and fixing animatronics, which are enjoyed by many trick-or-treaters.

Please  leave a comment on this web site, so that you can be notified of the future date of the his Celebration of Life service which is expected to be held in May 2021 at Knoebels Grove Amusement Park.  

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