Barbara Reitz

Vero Beach, Fla. - Barbara Scott Reitz, wife of Captain Spencer Reitz USN (Ret) for over 60 years, and long time resident of Old Lyme and Melbourne, Fla., passed away on Nov. 24, 2004 in Vero Beach, Fla., at the age of 82.

She was born in Annapolis, Md. , daughter of Captain Leon Bueford Scott USN (Ret) and Helena Webster Scott

She was a practicing "domestic scientist" going wherever her naval officer father was stationed including China, the Phillipines, Panama, and Hawaii. She attended many different schools growing up, graduating from Woodrow Wilson High School and Temple Secreterial School, both in Washington, D.C. She was employed in the U.S. Labor Dept. before World War II, and then worked in the "Old" U.S. Navy Dept. on Constitution Avenue. She later transferred to the 15th Naval District (Canal Zone) where she and her husband were the first to be married in the base chapel at Rodman Naval Base, Canal Zone on Dec. 7, 1943.

Her many years of volunteering began with the Navy Relief Society in Washington and later Newport, R.I. She trained as a Red Cross Grey Lady at Bethesda Naval Hospital and served there and at the Naval Hospitals in Naples, Italy and Chelsea, Mass. While living in Marshfield, Mass., she was a volunteer in the school system, resigning as Director of Volunteers because of moving to Connecticut where she became a volunteer with the American Cancer Society "Reach for Recovery" Program, also serving on the New London Cancer Society board of directors.

In recent years, she and her husband traveled extensively here and abroad. She was a perennial art student - as she said "one course at a time" at the Lyme Academy of Fine Arts. She also studied at the University of Hawaii, Newport Art Association, and the North River Art Society.

She leaves her husband of more than 60 years; their two sons, Scott, of Los Angeles, and Spencer, of Phoenix; two grandchildren, Barbara and Jeremiah, of Los Angeles; and her sister, Jean Clarey, of Honolulu, Hawaii.

She deeply loved her family along with the many friends she gathered over her life.

She is to be interred in Arlington National Cemetery on April 6, 2005.