Carlton Reid

1935 - 2014

Carlton Reid, 78, a longtime resident of Arlington, departed this life Saturday, April 5, 2014, at a hospital in Dallas after a long battle with multiple myeloma. Carlton departed this life during a grieving but celebratory atmosphere, surrounded by his family. Memorial service: 2 p.m. Saturday, April 19, at Moore Funeral Home in Arlington. Visitation: 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, April 18, at Moore Funeral Home. Carlton Reid was a career Army officer and veteran of the Vietnam War. After retiring from the Army, Carlton became a regional director for the U.S. Health and Human Services for the southern region of the U.S. The son of Morris Henderson Reid and Alice Taylor Reid, Carlton grew up in Camden, N.J. He graduated from Camden High and attended West Virginia State University with a degree in business administration. After graduating from West Virginia State University in 1957, he began his career in the Army at Fort Sill, Okla., and completed training as an artillery officer. He served at Fort Ord, Calif., Schweinfurt, Germany, and Spring Valley, N.Y. Carlton subsequently commanded an air defense artillery battalion in Clementon, N.J. He was promoted to major by the Clementon commander at his home in Willingboro, N.J., prior to a tour in Vietnam in which he served as a civil affairs officer. He organized a massive drive for food, clothing and school supplies through articles in his hometown newspaper, The Camden County Courier-Post, and numerous public speaking engagements represented by his wife. He also received help from the Kiwanis and Key clubs of Willingboro, N.J., which conducted supply drives for men, women and children of all ages; a neighbor who was an independent trucker who moved the cargo to New York ports; and Catholic Relief Services, which ensured delivery in Vietnam. Throughout his career, he continued graduate studies in accounting and served as a comptroller at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Fort Amador, Panama Canal Zone, and Fort Monroe, Va., prior to retiring from the Army at Fort Bliss. He continued his service to his country as a federal employee at the Internal Revenue Service in Houston, from which he was recruited to the Department of Health and Human Services in Dallas, where he served for over 20 years. He rose to become a regional director in the Administration for Children and Families and a champion of Head Start pre-K programs. He also had an entrepreneurial spirit. He founded Reid Management and Associates, a home business that provided consulting, tax and accounting services to individuals and small businesses for over 25 years. He was preceded in death by his parents, Morris and Alice Reid. Survivors: Left behind to cherish his memory are his wife of 56 years, Bernice Reid, Ph.D., former president of the National League of American Pen Women and a retired Lamar High School teacher; his daughter, Dawn Carter, a CEEB benefits planner with Mercer; his sons, retired Army Col. Carlton Reid Jr., a Booz Allen Hamilton nuclear strategy consultant, Alan Reid founder and owner of EMPO Corp. of Minneapolis, Minn., and San Antonio, business consultant Michael Reid of Arlington, Associate Dean and Professor Christopher Reid, M.D., Ph.D., of Drew University, Los Angeles, Calif., and Air Force Maj. Jonathan Reid, assigned to Bolling Air Force Base, Md.; grandchildren, Jeremy Carter, Jerome Carter, Amanda Carter, Alan Reid Jr., Arianna Reid, Marcus Reid, Zachary Reid, Carlton Reid III, Isaiah Reid, Nathaniel Reid, Elizabeth Reid and Benjamin Reid; great-grandson, Jason Carter; son-in-law, Monaque Carter; and daughters-in-law, Grace Reid, Jacki Reid, Dhakshike Wickrema Reid and Jennifer Reid.