Beverly Jane Hull Reynolds

1932 - 2017

Beverly Jane Hull Reynolds passed away Saturday, March 25, 2017. Memorial service: 11 a.m. Saturday, April 15, at Shannon Rufe Snow Funeral Chapel, 6001 Rufe Snow Drive, Fort Worth, Texas 76148. Beverly Jane Hull Reynolds was born April 3, 1932, in Fort Worth, Texas. Her father was a respected civic leader and member of the Texas Legislature, but Beverly's entry into the world was anything but privileged. She weighed only a few pounds, at a time when the prospects for a low birth weight baby were extremely poor. Just a week later, her mother died of complications from TB leaving her motherless. Against the odds, and with the help of a guardian angel with the very earthly name Bertha Tennessee (her mother's mother), little Beverly beat long odds and grew to be a happy and healthy girl. This was an early testament to her courage and strength, which often went unnoticed because she was such a gentle soul. She always spoke warmly of her childhood, spent with her father, whom she adored, grandmother, stepmother, and large extended family all living on the North Side of Fort Worth. Her early life was punctuated by a few trips to Austin with her "Daddy" during legislative sessions. She once even spent a night camping out in her father's Capitol building office - something that probably doesn't happen anymore. Beverly graduated from North Side High, a place she loved to the point that when in doubt you could always be assured any gift would be successful if it came in Maroon. Beverly married Howard Reynolds Jr. in 1954, who she met through Howard's sister while working at Texas Electric. Together they raised a son, Charles, and daughter, Kathleen. She was a devoted mother, but her greatest joy was spending time with her three grandsons, or as she called them, "my little angels." She never stopped calling them that, even after the littlest angel grew to more than six feet tall. People sometimes say of a person that he or she couldn't hurt a fly. That was certainly true of Beverly, who was sentimental and kind-hearted to a fault. When friends visited, she cooked huge batches of chicken-fried steak. It had to be burdensome, but she literally glowed when she did it. And she did it many, many, times. Beverly lived to serve others, most particularly her family. She inherited an interest in politics, dragging her son and daughter all over the countryside as children campaigning for a succession of Texas politicians, including of course her brother Cordell. Later in life she volunteered countless hours working at the polls. The very last time she left her house was to vote. To the end, in spite of failing health and deepening dementia, her face and those bright beautiful eyes would just light up when one of us visited. This kind and loving woman is survived by her brother James; her two children, Charles and Kathleen; and her three grandsons, Kevin, Ryan, and Jeffrey. She will be missed terribly.