William G. Rein

Rein, William G.
1919-2014, William G. Rein, 94, of Phoenix, Arizona passed away peacefully on August 9, 2014. He was born on November 14, 1919 in Budapest, Hungary. He is survived by his son Mark who lives in Scottsdale, his daughter Stephanie, who lives in Denver and her two children, Christina and Brandon. In the mid 1920's he immigrated with his mother to Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Shortly thereafter he moved to New York where he attended grade school and New Utrecht High School in Brooklyn. He then attended Radio Institute of New York, a school specializing in TV broadcasting. After one year there, war broke out and he enlisted in the army. He soon became a corporal doing military intelligence work in Mississippi. He then became a communications sergeant in the 65th Infantry Division and was sent to France and was involved in the Battle of the Bulge. After a short break at a base in France, he was reassigned with the 869th Field Artillery Battalion. In 1945, he was a passenger in a military jeep that went over an embankment and rolled. He sustained a broken back in this incident, an injury that bothered him throughout his life. After some time in a hospital in France, he was transferred to Percy Jones General Hospital, a wartime hospital in Battle Creek, Michigan. Upon his release he went to Detroit to join his mother but because of the cold weather that bothered his back, he headed west. On his way to California, he was persuaded to detour to Mexico City, where he stayed for a year attending Mexico City College and writing for a Mexican English newspaper. He then moved to Los Angeles, where he worked for a construction company. Within months, the damp air bothered his back so he transferred to their Phoenix office. After a year, he got his general contractor's license and started Sun Valley Construction and Sun Valley Pools. He later sold the pool company that went on to become one of the large pool builders in Phoenix. His successful construction company built many apartment buildings, townhouse subdivisions and custom homes. In 1957, he met and married Maxine Tarring who was a resident in the apartment complex where he also lived. In 1959, their son Mark was born and in 1962 their daughter Stephanie was born. In 1974, he and Maxine divorced and he never remarried. Bill, as his friends called him, was very artistic and expressed it writing songs and constantly sketching. He was well known for his "napkin art". As soon as he sat down in a restaurant, if there were paper napkins, he would be sketching. He always had a pen and a stack of his doodles in his pocket. Bill was extremely generous and supported a number of charities. The ones related to veterans were his favorite. If his huge stacks of mail were any indication, he was on the hit list for solicitation from dozens of charities. Bill was always the one to volunteer to sit in front of a grocery store on Veteran's and Memorial Days selling items to benefit veterans. His pet projects were collecting donations for a battered women's home and a veteran's shelter. Bill was also always willing to help out a friend in need. He was active with the Biltmore Lion's Club until his health prevented him from participating. For many years, Bill almost single handedly produced newsletters for both his local AARP and Jewish War Veterans chapters. He did this until he was over 90 years old and was upset when his health would not allow him to do it anymore. Bill was extremely active, loved his regular breakfasts and lunches with friends, working on his real estate deals and was still driving until he was 90. Bill loved living and his goal was to make it to 100. A week before his death, his nurse asked him if he was ready for hospice and he asked, "Are you giving up on me? Don't you think I will make it to 100?" He battled until the very end, never wanting to give up, but finally his body just gave out on him. A funeral service is planned at the National Memorial Cemetery of Arizona, 23029 N. Cave Creek Rd., Phoenix, AZ at 10:30 AM on Monday, August 18, 2014. Instead of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Disabled American Veterans (www.dav.org) or Jewish War Veterans (www.jwv.org). A guest book will be set up on www.Legacy.com.