Nov. 7, 1913

Feb. 29, 2012

The funeral service for Earnestine Lynn Reed, 98, of Bainbridge, will be held at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, March 6, 2012, at First Baptist Church, with Rev. Paul Medley officiating. Interment will follow at Oak City Cemetery.

The family will receive friends from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Monday, March 5, 2012, at Ivey Funeral Home.

Mrs. Reed was born in Pine Hill, Decatur County, Ga. in 1913, the daughter of Charlie T. Lynn and Mary Ada Hatcher Lynn. She died Wednesday, Feb. 29, 2012, at Memorial Manor. She was a graduate of Pine Hill School, Class of 1931, and was the widow of the late Marvin E. Reed Sr. Earnestine and Marvin enjoyed 72 years of marriage, 56 of them at their flower-surrounded home on East Evans Street in Bainbridge. More recently, she was a resident of Willow Ridge Assisted Living for five years and subsequently of Memorial Manor.

Upon Earnestine and Marvin’s marriage in 1934, Earnestine moved to Port Arthur, Texas, to join Marvin who was employed there with the Texas Company (later Texaco). Earnestine and Marvin enjoyed their Texas years immensely and took great pride in their adopted state. In 1950, however, they decided to return to Bainbridge, to make their home in the area where they had been reared, where they were surrounded by relatives and friends, and where they had fallen in love in the years after high school.

Beginning not long after their return to Bainbridge, Earnestine sought employment and remained employed in a wide variety of interesting positions until reaching retirement age. She was particularly proud of her service as a LINK instructor, training young Air Force officers in instrument flying at Bainbridge Air Base for several years in the 1950s. Subsequently, she served as an executive assistant to a number of leading business people in Bainbridge.

In 1962 she joined the Bainbridge chapter of Pilot Club International, a women’s professional organization, and had the honor of serving as president of the chapter several times over the years and was still a member on the emeritus membership list. She relished representing Bainbridge at annual Pilot Club conferences in major cities in the United States and Canada during her presidential years, as well as making public presentations for the club at many events in Bainbridge.

Earnestine was also a devoted member of the First Baptist Church of Bainbridge from the time of her return to Decatur County, and, after retirement, took particular interest in the church’s Saints Alive senior choral group, for which she and Marvin Sr. sang for many years. They both were very proud of their many years of uninterrupted perfect attendance at rehearsals and performances of this group, as well as their travels far and wide with the Saints.

Earnestine is survived by her son, Marvin Jr. and daughter-in-law, Judith, of Hempstead, N.Y.; her two grandchildren, Michael Reed and his wife, Shannon, of Glendale, Calif., and Alison Reed Schneider and her husband, Michael, of Clayton, Mo.; her two sisters, Thelma Lynn Floyd and Joyce Lynn Poitevint, both of Bainbridge; her five great-grandchildren, Sam Schneider, Ben Schneider, Jake Schneider, Catalina Reed and Sydney Reed; and countless nieces and nephews.

Ivey Funeral Home is in charge of the arrangements.