Obituary: Reed, Irving B.
Age 86
He was born the year of the Great Depression, June 24th, 1929 in Kenansville, NC.
He died on January 28, 2016 in Spokane, WA.
He spent his youth in Badin North Carolina, his high school years at Fishburne Military School, Waynesboro, VA.
He received an appointment to the USMA when he graduated.
He graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1951 with a BA.
He attended Air Command and Staff College, Maxwell AFB, Montgomery, Alabama, along with military studies, also earning his M.B.A. from George Washington University.
He continued his flying career at Seymour Johnson AFB, Goldsboro, NC.
He was a B52 Aircraft Commander/Wing Staff mission planner writing the strategic plans for tankers.
In January, 1968 he was assigned to the Pentagon as an Air Staff Planner, along with commitment to the Maintained Single Integrated Operations Plan, which included Army, Navy and Air Force forces.
He developed the Dispersal Plan for SAC forces to counter the missile threat of the USSR.
In 1971 he was chosen to attend the University of Miami, Center for Advanced International Studies in lieu of Air War College.
There he collaborated on a book about the cultural, political and business trends in South American countries, “The Latin American Scene of the Seventies”.
In 1972, in preparation for duty to the Vietnam Theatre, he checked out in the A-1E Fighter at Hurlburt Field, LA and his first time as a fighter pilot.
He was the Vice Wing Commander at Nakhon Phanom, Thailand, 56th Special Operations Wing, August 1972 to May 1973.
In May, 1973 he headed for Minot AFB, Minot, ND.
There he served as the Vice Commander of the 5th Bomb Wing.
Next assigned to Castle AFB, Merced, CA to become Wing Commander.
Castle was the training wing for SAC’s B52 and KC 135 crews.
He was promoted to Brigadier General at this time.
He returned to Omaha, Nebraska and SAC headquarters in 1975 to become Director of Command Control and Assistant Director of Operations.
He left in 1977 for Fairchild AFB, Spokane, WA and the B52 and KC-135 Wing.
He was assigned as the Division Commander of the 47th Air Division.
The division consisted of five other bases including Fairchild.
He and wing commander, Col. John Shaud, worked with then senator Tom Foley to encourage construction of buildings at Fairchild that would be permanent.
In 1978, still in use, many were the temporary buildings constructed during WWII.
He retired from Fairchild and the Air Force in the month that Mt.
St. Helens erupted in 1980.
He was the City of Spokane Director of Public Works, responsible for the development and maintenance of the city’s transportation network of residential and arterial streets.
In 1985 he was assigned all engineering functions of the city planning.
Over one-third of the city’s work force came under his office budget.
His job included operation of the city’s Wastewater Sewage Treatment Plant, construction and maintenance of hundreds of miles of city streets, the city’s water system, increased electrical generating capacity of the Upriver Dam, a project to convert the city’s garbage and refuse waste to energy.
During years while serving the city, he was appointed to the Spokane Airport Board, later serving as chairman.
After retiring from the City of Spokane in 1996 he became the interim airport director.
He served on the selection committee for nominees to the Nation’s service academies for the Fifth District.
He and others went before the Base Closure and Realignment Commission when Fairchild was threatened with base closure in support for Fairchild.
He was a Distinguished Eagle Scout, serving as President of the Boy Scouts Council, a member of the boards for Red Cross, YMCA, Manito Country Club, and the State of Washington Transportation Improvement Board.
For 11 years he was a city representative to the state’s Road Jurisdiction Committee, which studied and identified the transportation needs of the cities and counties in the State of Washington.
He is survived by his wife of 53 years, Carolyn, whom he met in Morocco in 1960 while she was working for the Department of Defense, Independent School System.
He is also survived by his two children, Don Reed (Peggy), and Sonja Hoeben (Ron) from his marriage to Swanheld Powell; and by his youngest two sons, Scott Reed and Clark Reed (Colleen); along with six grandchildren, Michel, Lauren, Katelyn, Lincoln, Alexander, and Erica Reed.
After Air Force Retirement, Terry Novak (then City Manager), appointed him as the Public Works Director, which led to serving the City of Spokane for 16 years.
He always felt being assigned to Fairchild and serving the City of Spokane was a special reward in his life.