Max Clemmis Reid

Max Clemmis Reid died at home in Lawn, outside Abilene, on May 16, 2019, on the morning after his 99th birthday; the occasion had been celebrated over the preceding weekend at a large family reunion.

Familiarly known as "Clem," Max C. Reid was born on May 15, 1920, in nearby Oplin, to Walter and Lela (Armor) Reid. (The town has now vanished.) The third of five children, he was raised on the family farm and graduated from Oplin High School in 1938. In 1941, joining his older brother, Gerald, Clem moved to San Diego, California, in time for Pearl Harbor. He went to work at the Consolidated Aircraft plant that produced the B-24 Liberator bomber. There he met Antonia Makis, whom he married on September 20, 1942; they would be together for 65 years.

After a stint in the Navy during the war, served stateside, Clem (whom his friends in California called "Tex"), worked for the rest of his career in the aircraft industry. In 1949, he and "Toni" (as she was known) moved to Spring Valley, East County San Diego, where they lived until her death in 2005. They had two children: David (married to Jayne L. Walker) and Patricia "Patty" (married to Charles Drake).

After Toni Reid died in 2005, Clem returned to West Central Texas. He rekindled a high school romance with Jamie Turner, and they became inseparable companions until her death. Later, at the local seniors' center, where he became a "mainstay," Clem made another cherished friendship with Shirley Coffey.

In his long life, Max C. Reid was a voracious reader and consumer of news, a wizardly mechanic, a mostly faithful Democrat, and a beloved husband, brother, friend, father, grandfather and great-grandfather.

In his own generation, he is predeceased by his sister, Edith, and his brothers, Gerald and Manton. His grandson, Stephen David Reid, died in an accident in 1995.

He is survived by his brother, Walter "Lawrence"; as well as his son, David Reid and wife Jayne; his daughter, Patricia "Patty" Drake and husband Charles Drake. He was the grandfather of Denae Anderson and husband Josh, and Denise Balyeat and husband Andy, and the great-grandfather of their four children, Jake and Courtney Anderson, Marina and Jordan Humphrey.

In his last days, Max C. Reid was tenderly watched over by his nieces, Janna Best and Gwendy Everett. He will be laid to rest beside his wife and grandson in Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland, California.

To honor his wishes, there will be no formal services. Arrangements were by The Hamil Family Funeral Home, 6449 Buffalo Gap Road.