HILL AIR FORCE BASE — It seemed pretty fitting that friends and family said goodbye to Lt. General Marc C. Reynolds in the company of a large collection of vintage war planes.
Funeral services for Reynolds, former commander of Hill Air Force Base’s Ogden Air Logistics Center, were held Monday at the Hill Aerospace Museum — a place that, according to the speakers at his funeral, was not only one of his favorite spots on Earth, but a place he poured his heart and soul into and helped make what it is today.
During his Air Force career, Reynolds was a command pilot with more than 5,200 flying hours, including 475 combat hours. He was appointed commander of the air logistics center in 1983.
When Reynolds retired from the Air Force in 1987, he accepted a position on the Utah Aerospace Heritage Foundation board. He eventually became the group’s chairman, serving a total of 26 years on the board.
Maj. Gen. (retired) Kevin Sullivan, another former commander of the Ogden ALC, described Reynolds as a consummate gentleman who worked tirelessly to raise the funds that would bring countless aircraft displays to the museum. Sullivan said Reynolds was integral in a process that brought two additional hangars there.
“He’d be pleased we’re celebrating his life in this place,” Sullivan said Monday.
As one would imagine, Reynolds was also passionate about flying.
He flew air defense assignments between 1952 and 1961 that included rotations to Air Force bases in California, Washington, Okinawa, and Massachusetts. He transitioned to reconnaissance missions in 1961 with an assignment to the Royal Air Force Station in Bruntingthorpe, England.
He eventually served with the 460th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing at Tan Son Nhut Air Base, Republic of Vietnam, and flew 230 combat missions over North Vietnam and the Republic of Vietnam. He later served air reconnaissance assignments in Japan and South Carolina.
Reynold’s son, Scott, said his father started flying at an early age. In his hometown of Chamberlain, S.D., Reynolds used to pay 25 cents per flight to fly one of his neighbor’s crop dusters.
Scott Reynolds said his father’s work ethic was honed in Chamberlain and he would often recall stories of when he was a paper boy there and delivered the news of the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor.
Reynolds also played basketball and once scored 9 of his team’s 11 points in a loss to his high school’s rival. Scott Reynolds said he would often joke with his father that “it must have been awfully hard to get the ball through that peach basket back then.”
Retired U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Jeremy “Bear” Taylor said in addition to being a great man, Reynolds was also a loyal friend.
Former Utah Veterans Affairs Director Terry Schow said Reynolds provided insight and help with the George E. Wahlen Veterans Home in Ogden.
Reynolds, 86, died July 21. He is survived by his wife Ellie; six children: Pam Chatelain, Barbara Reynolds, Scott Reynolds, Lisa Oelke, Kristan Ingebretsen, and Karine Kucej; 15 grandchildren, and 12 great-grandchildren.
Interment will be at the Air Force Academy Cemetery in Colorado Springs.
