QUNICY, MASS. – Dr. Donald E. Reed, 93, of Quincy, Mass., passed away on Sunday, Oct. 20, 2019, after a long and fruitful life. 

Don was born in Damascus, Ohio, on May 13, 1926. Feeling a call to a life of Christian service, he attended and graduated from Eastern Nazarene College with a degree in Religion in 1948. It was there he met and married his wife Elva in June of 1948. Don then attended Drew Theological Seminary, where he received his master’s of Divinity in 1950. Following this, he was the pastor of the Carney Church of the Nazarene in Carney, N.J. for two years. It was here that he and Elva felt called to the mission field. 

Don spent 14 years in Lebanon serving as a missionary for the Nazarene Church. He started, built and directed the Beirut Nazarene School and Bible College during this time. Don also promoted the establishment of other churches and schools in Lebanon. Graduates from his ministry are all over the globe. He also raised his family there, traveled extensively in the Middle East and completed his master’s in Education at the American University in Beirut. After completing his service in Lebanon, Don completed his doctorate in Secondary Education at Ohio University. He became a professor of Secondary Education at Eastern Nazarene College in Wollaston in 1970, from where he retired in 2010.

Don and his wife Elva traveled all over the world with Work & Witness Teams to continue their missionary work. He helped transform a theater into a church in Paris, France, built churches in Swaziland, Africa, helped repair church roofs in Scotland, built a school in Belize and spent nine weeks in China teaching the English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers. He was an ordained minister and visitation pastor at the Wollaston Church of the Nazarene up until 2018. Don was very active in the Chinese Nazarene Church where he served as the interim Pastor for two years and has taught ESL in Quincy since 1995. He was also active in the Sebago Church of the Nazarene in Sebago. 

Don loved spending his spare time at his property in Casco. When he wasn’t fishing, he was teaching his family how to fish, drinking coffee, working his garden, making jam and selling hundreds of jars to benefit those in need. He was a generous and caring man who will be greatly missed by all who knew him. 

He was the beloved husband of 58 years to the late Elva M. (Pettit) Reed; loving father of Donald T. Reed of Carlsbad, N.M., Lawrence P. Reed of Tewksbury, Mass., Alice M. Reed of Sebago, Robert A. Reed of Loveland, Colo., and Elva J. Reed Hazelton of Quincy, Mass.; cherished brother of Jeanette (Reed) Nightingale of Virginia; devoted grandfather of 11; great-grandfather of five; and he had many nieces and nephews.

He was predeceased by nine siblings.

Arrangements by Keohane Funeral Home, 785 Hancock Street, Quincy, Mass. See www.Keohane.com or call 1-800-Keohane for online condolences.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in his memory to the: Donald and Elva Reed Scholarship Fund, 23 E. Elm Ave., Quincy, MA 02170.