The Aubrey Reynolds Family Home Page
Clara Sybil (Burns) Reynolds
Descendants of Aubrey Edward Reynolds and Clara Burns
Generation No. 1
1. AUBREY EDWARD6 REYNOLDS (LEONIDAS ERASMUS5, LEONIDAS BASCOM4, HARTWELL STAIN3, HENRY B.2, HENRY1) was born 28 May 1905 in Hot Springs, Arkansas, and died 09 Sep 1964 in Searcy, Arkansas. He married CLARA SYBIL BURNS 30 Aug 1930 in Erie, Pennsylvania, daughter of ROBERT BURNS and EFFIE WALLACE. She was born 20 Jun 1907 in Providence, Arkansas, and died 13 Nov 1982 in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
More About CLARA SYBIL BURNS:
Burial: Hollywood Cemetery, Garland Co.
Individule Note: Lived at Hope, Arkansas as a child.
Obituary of Clara Sybil (Burns) Reynolds
The News, March 22, 1979.
Clara S. Reynolds, retired self-employed saleslady, has been notified by "The
World Who's Who of Women" that her biography will appear in the fifth edition.
She is the daughter of the late Robert and Effie Ruth Wallace Burns of Hot
Springs and widow of Aubrey Edward Reynolds of Hot Springs.
Mrs. Reynolds is an active club woman in Hot Springs. Her memberships include
Roundtable Poets of Hot Springs, Poets' Roundtable of Arkansas, National
Federation of State Poetry Societies; Hot Springs Music Club, National
Federation of Music Clubs; Sabina Club of the YWCA; Rebekah Lodge; and Alanons.
In 1977-78 she was treasurer of the Hot Springs Music Club. She served as
President of Sabina Club in 1976-77. For sixteen years, she has been active in
Alanons and has acted as counselor and program chairman.
Mrs. Reynolds has been a saleslady for Luzier Cosmetics Co., 1932-1936; she has
sold for Organic Seafood and Stanleys in the 1950s.
Her poetry has been published in "Poet's Partyline" of THE NEWS. She is included
in "Poems by Poets' Roundtable of Arkansas 1979", the anthology of the state
poetry organization.
Mrs. Reynolds is a Presbyterian and sang in church choirs in Memphis and Hot
Springs. She has performed in Hot Springs Music Club productions.
She married in 1930 in Erie, PA and the couple had five children. They are Mrs.
John (Patricia) Reed of Hot Springs, Mrs. Peter (Martha) Henning of Silverhill,
AL, Robert Edward Reynolds of Hot Springs, Miss Bonnie Lee Reynolds of Hot
Springs, and Aubrey Wilson Reynolds of Benton. There are 11 grandchildren and 3
great-grandchildren.
More About AUBREY EDWARD REYNOLDS:
Burial: Hollywood Cemetery, Garland Co.
Social Security Number: 175-07-8678
More About AUBREY REYNOLDS and CLARA BURNS:
Marriage: 30 Aug 1930, Erie, Pennsylvania
Married By: S. J. Arthur, Minister of The Gospel
Children of CLARA BURNS and AUBREY REYNOLDS are:
2. i. PATRICIA ANN8 REYNOLDS, b.1931, Eire, Pennsylvania.
3. ii. MARTHA VI REYNOLDS, b. 1937, Eire, Pa..
4. iii. ROBERT EDWARD REYNOLDS, b. 1940, Erie, Pennsylvania.
iv. BONNIE LEE REYNOLDS, b. 05 Aug 1943, Eire, Pa.; d. 01 Jul 1997, Hot Springs, Arkansas.
More About BONNIE LEE REYNOLDS:
Burial: 1997, Hollywood Cemetery, Garland County
Graduation: 25 May 1962, Hot Spring High School, Time 8:00 P.M.
5. v. AUBREY WILSON REYNOLDS, b 1949, Union City, Pa..
Aubrey Edward Reynolds Family Album
The Hot Springs Sentinel-Record , August 11, 1965.
Aubrey
E. Reynolds and William Rayburn Keel, both of Hot Springs, were among the 53
civilian workers killed in the explosion and flash fire Monday afternoon at the
Titan II intercontinental missile site, 10 miles northwest of Searcy.
Reynolds' body was returned to Hot Springs
yesterday by Gross mortuary from Judsonia where it was taken on recovery. Keel's
body is at Jackson funeral home in Newport and funeral services for him will be
held Thursday in Kentucky.
The two Hot Springs men, along with the others,
were working in the 170-foot deep silo time of the explosion. There were two
survivors.
Reynolds, according to relatives, had been
transferred to the missile site from another near Searcy Monday morning. He had
been working on the first site for about a week.
Reynolds' family was informed of the explosion by
Leon Storey, 726 Linwood, who was also working in Searcy. The family left for
Searcy around 5 o'clock Monday.
"We couldn't find anything out when we got
there," related a son, Robert E. Reynolds, on his return to Hot Springs Tuesday
afternoon. "The area was sealed off and we couldn't get close."
The Reynolds family spent the night in Searcy and went to the site early Tuesday
morning.
Death Toll 53
In Missile
Site Disaster
THE SENTINEL-RECORD Wednesday, August 11, 1965, By Al Schay
SEARCY, Ark. (AP) - Air force investigators swarmed the scorched launch tube of
a Titan 11 missile complex Tuesday to find the cause of an explosion and fire
that killed 53 civilians in the "gun barrel" of America's mightiest ballistic
missile.
The tragedy was the first in the history of
the Titan system, which includes 54 complexes that have been fully operational
since December 1963.
"We cannot make any sup-position whatsoever as to
the cause of the explosion or fire, said Capt. Douglas Wood, public information
officer for Little Rock Air Force Base, which commands the 18 Titan II silos
ringing central Arkansas.
Wood said, the Air Force didn't know at
this point what fed the fire.
Air Force personnel, working first in asbestos suits because of heat and later
using contained air supplies because of smoke, pulled bodies out of the 155-foot
deep launch tube throughout the night
The missile, fully loaded with liquid fuel weighing 150 tons, was in the
underground tube but did not burn, Wood said.
There was no danger of a nuclear explosion, he
said, be-cause the warhead had been re-moved while the civilian work-men updated
the physical plant of the complex.
About 100 friends, relatives, newsmen and spectators stood in small clusters and
talked quietly beside the fence that separated them from the flat, landscaped
two acres of land in which the complex is buried.
The Air Force said the explosion occurred at 1:30 p.m. Monday, trapping all but
two of the 55 civilian workers inside the silo.
"These things are not sup-posed to
happen," Wood said. "We have many, many safety features. But the fact that it
did happen contradicts these safety factors. We're trying to find out what
happened."
Seventeen members of a 30- man investigation force arrived here early Tuesday.
They include men who experts in every phase of the Titan system, the Air Forces
said.
President Johnson order the investigation after learning Monday night that the
workmen were unaccounted for and presumed trapped inside the silo.
Wood said," most of the victims suffocated."
The fire burn less then an hour," he
said. "But up to 12 hours later smoke was still billowing in the silo.
The silo is covered at grown level by a 750-ton door, which moves laterally on
rails. The door was closed. The increasing amount of smoke forced air out of the
silo, and oxygen that remained was consumed by the fire, Wood said.
"It was nearly an airtight compartment," he
said
Two of the civilians escaped by
fleeing through an under-ground tunnel that connects the launch silo, an access
room and the control center-the three chambers of every Titan II complex.
One of the survivors, 18-year-old Gary Wayne Lay of Clinton, said he saw the
fire flash into the tube. Smoke billowed after it.
The power failed and, with the huge door
above closed, the tube was filled with darkness. Lay said he groped his way
around the launch tube until he found the door to the tunnel leading to the
access room.
"It was horrible," he said from a hospital bed. "I could hear men screaming and
crying. Somebody was yelling 'Help me! God, help me! couldn't see him in the
dark.
Hubert A. Saunders, 59, Conway, the other
survive was working above the door to the tunnel when the smoke burst around
him. He dropped down and ran into the tunnel he said.
"The bird (the missile) was the gun barrel
and so was I, so I got out of there," Saunders said.
Lay, a summer laborer on project,
suffered burns of head, arms and legs. He listed in satisfactory condition here.
Saunders, a paint foreman, suffered smoke inhalation and also was listed in
satisfactory condition at the hospital here.
The following article appeared in the Hot Springs News on November 18, 1982.
IN MEMORIAL - CLARA BURNS REYNOLDS
Perhaps the word "lady" has a greater meaning in the South than elsewhere in
this country. The Southern lady has always been something of an aristocrat. She
has also been something of a contradiction, since she could be both genteel and
tough, sentimental and realistic, family-oriented and worldly wise. In shorts,
the Southern lady, enigma that she is, has always been someone to be admired.
Hot Springs lost just such a lady this week with the death of Clara Burns
Reynolds. Those of us who were lucky enough to know her were well aware that we
were seeing one of the few who kept the species from becoming extinct.
Mrs. Reynolds was very much a patron of the arts.
She was particularly interested in poetry and in music, and many of her poems
have appeared in the poetry column of this newspaper. She also sponsored one of
the poetry contests for students, which are held annually.
While she belonged to many organizations, she was more than a "card-carrying
member." She was active in the activities of those organizations because she
thought that, by contributing her talents, she was benefiting the community as a
whole. We extend our sympathy to the members of Mrs. Reynolds' family, and
we want them to know that we are grateful for the privilege of having known her.
Author Barbara Peters
Poem by Clara Sybil Burns Reynolds
"Reflection", La Villa News;
Poems by Poets' Roundtable of Arkansas, 1982
WEEPING WILLOW TREE
Tell me weeping willow,
so
I will not miss a word,
why do you weep?
You will tell me by and by
what makes you droop your branches.
Is life a burden?
It must be crushing your heart.
Your tears are streaming down
to meet the earth below.
Hark, you say you are crying
because of the crucified Christ,
who died for all sins!
I tell you that God
will send to you His comforter
to lift up your drooping heart.
Your faith will make you whole again.
The article appeared in the Erie, PA newspaper in September, 1930.
Mrs. E. R. Burns, 815 Malvern
Avenue, announces the marriage of her daughter, Clara, to Aubrey Reynolds. The
ceremony was solemnized in Erie, PA, Saturday evening, August 30, at 7 o'clock,
the pastor of the Baptist church officiating. The groom is the son of Mr. and
Mrs. L. E. Reynolds, of this city. Both Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds are graduates of
the local high school and the bride also attended Ouachita college, at
Arkadelphia. The groom completed his education at an electrical engineering
school in Erie. The couple will reside at 516 East Sixth Street, Erie, PA.
My
dad Aubrey Reynolds Road an Indian chief motorcycle from Hot Springs to
Pennsylvania some time during the late 20s. He told me that at that time there
was very few paved roads, I'm sure especially in Arkansas when he made the trip.
When he was a teenager he became interested in electricity and built one of the
first radios in his neighborhood. He made the trip to Erie because of his
passion. The General Electric had built a large plant located in the city. Pop
also had a very good friend named Tommy Freeman who was from Hot Springs and was
the welterweight champion of the world, Tommy's training camp was located in
Erie.
He said, "Pop said, When applied for employment at the General Electric and was
interviewed for the job, after completing the interview the personnel manager
said," I'll review your application and we will give you a call." Pop was
determined to go to work and said," You have already decided if you want to hire
me would you let me know now. The personnel manager said, "You're hired and gave
him a schedule when to report for work."
He become a supervisor and studied electrical engineering and only liked a few
credits on completing his degree.
Posted by Robert E Reynolds
Email address boreyed@yahoo.com
2020-copyright The information posted on the Reynolds' Archives may be used for non-commercial, historical, and genealogical purposes. It can be freely downloaded by researchers and those interested in our family history. It can not be used otherwise without my written permission. When using this material, make mention of this web site as your reference.