Pietro Reck

Pietro Reck, 84, of Blacksburg, passed away Friday, November 27, 2009, and joined his beloved wife of 50 years, Dorothy "Dot" Carter Reck, in heaven. Knowing no strangers, only potential friends, he was admired by all who worked with or knew him in the many locales they lived across the United States. A member of Virginia Tech's "Old Guard" and a devoted Hokie, he graduated from Virginia Tech in 1950 with a degree in electrical engineering. He was a graduate of Mark Twain High School in Stotesbury, W.Va., and later served in the United States Navy, stationed in the United States and the Panama Canal during World War II. Born in Seren del Grappa, Italy, he came to the United States at the age of four with his mother, Amabile, and his older sister, Angelina, to reunite with his father, Angelo, who had preceded them to America. His family settled first in the coal camp at Helen, W.Va., and later moved to Sophia, W.Va., where his family owned and operated a well-known restaurant, Reck's Place. After graduation from Virginia Tech, he first worked with coal companies in Kentucky and then with the former Hercules Chemical Co., refurbishing, maintaining and building facilities at plants in Alabama, California and Louisiana, as well as the Radford Arsenal. They returned to the New River Valley in 1980, and in 1987 he retired from Hercules after 30 years of employment. He is survived by nieces, Mary Ann and Dr. Amabile Milano of Beckley, W.Va.; and sister-in-law, Ann Carter of Charlotte, N.C.; sister-in-law, Fern Reck, of McArthur, W.Va.; brother and sister-in-law, Ray S. Carter, Jr. and Judith Carter of Pearisburg; niece, Audrey Carter of Greer, S.C.; two nephews, Kenneth Carter of Laurens, S.C. and Mark Reck of Crab Orchard, W.Va.; and several grand nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his sister, Angelina Milano, of Sophia, W.Va., and brother, Anthony Reck of McArthur, W.Va. He also left special friends and caregivers, Leota Cook, Jennifer East and Charlie Stott and family. Funeral Mass will be conducted Monday, November 30, 2009 at 1 p.m. in St. Mary's Catholic Church, Blacksburg, Va., where he was a long-time member. Father Remi Sojka will officiate. Interment will follow in Highland Memory Gardens, Dublin, Va. Friends may call any time Sunday at the funeral home, and the family will receive friends from 6 to 8 p.m. Sunday evening at the McCoy Funeral Home in Blacksburg.