"Tupelo Daily Journal" Tupelo, Mississippi July 21, 1951 FORMER AUBURN RESIDENT IS DROWNING VICTIM IN MONTANA Funeral services were incomplete Friday night for Ray Reed, 24, son of Mr. and Mrs. Cecil Reed of the Auburn Community, who was drowned Wednesday afternoon near Kalispell, Mont., pending arrival of the body. The body is being returned to Tupelo and is expected to arrive here about Sunday with Spain Funeral Home in charge of arrangements. Mr. Reed, who was employed by a construction company which was doing highway work, drowned when he and eight other members of the construction company went swimming in the South Fork River after work Wednesday afternoon. He and one other man had decided to swim across the river when he saw that he could not make it and tried to get back to shore, reports said. He disappeared and attempts to find his body were unsuccessful. The body was found about 5 o'clock Thursday afternoon on a sand bar about one and one-half miles downstream from where he had disappeared. Mr. Reed was born and raised in the Auburn Community and had attended Auburn and Mooreville schools. He was a veteran of World War II. He had worked in Tupelo at Long's Laundry and Dry Cleaners and had been working in Montana only a short while. In addition to his parents, he leaves a daughter, Vicky Lynn Reed; five brothers, John Turner Reed of Tupelo, Rex Reed, who is in the Army in Korea, Billy Reed, serving with the Navy, Arthur Roy Reed and Paul Reed, both of Auburn; and three sisters, Mrs. David Gillentine of Mooreville, Norman Fay Reed and Coy Ann Reed, both of Auburn.
"Tupelo Daily Journal" Tupelo, Mississippi July 24, 1951 RITES TOMORROW FOR RAY REED Body Arrives Here From Montana Funeral services for Ray Reed, son of Mr. and Mrs. Cecil Reed of Auburn who was drowned near Kalispell, Mon. last week, will be held from the Spring Hill Church at 3 o'clock Wednesday afternoon. Services will be conducted by the Rev. Carl Elexander, the Rev. G. L. Ford and the Rev. C. C . Hughes. Burial will be in the adjoining cemetery with Spain Funeral Home in charge of arrangements. The body arrived in Tupelo this morning at 2:50 a.m. on the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad. In addition to his parents, he leaves a daughter, Vicky Lynn Reed; five brothers, John Turner Reed of Tupelo, Cpl. Rex Reed who is with the Army in Korea, Billy Reed, serving with the Navy at San Diego, Arthur Roy Reed and Paul Reed, both of Auburn; and three sisters, Mrs. Daivd Gillentine of Mooreville, Norma Fay Reed and Coy Ann Reed, both of Auburn. Pallbearers will be O. J. Christian, Baldwyn Parker, Horace Young, George Reeder, Russell Carnathan and Randle Monaghan.