Published: February 23, 2008 10:52 pm         

Lamar Reed fed New Paris

Reader of the week

Goshen resident Lamar Reed has been retired for more than 10 years, but not until he had served the New Paris community in three careers.

Reed, who lives at Waterford Crossing, will celebrate his 97th birthday Tuesday with a little cake and balloons with friends.

A native of Milford and a 1930 graduate of Milford High School, Reed was known for operating a gas station in New Paris, then opening Reed’s Cafe there and at the same time driving a school bus in New Paris for 35 years.

After retiring the first time at age 65, Reed went to work for the next 20 years at The Farmer’s Exchange, selling advertising across northern Indiana.

Reed explained that after he graduated from Milford, he continued to help his father on the family farm. But after his family moved in 1933 to another farm near New Paris, he started his first business, running a gas station for Abshire Oil.

Travelers would stop for fuel and ask “Where is a good place to eat?” and since Reed could not make any recommendation, he decided to open a restaurant. After a grocery store closed, he started Reed’s Cafe at a downtown building.

“I had it for 27 years,” Reed said. And the school bus driving was a natural complement to helping serve breakfast and lunch at the diner, he explained. “I could help with the noon crowd. It worked real good.”

Reed is a charter member of the New Paris Lions Club, founded in 1954, and “never missed a meeting.”

His secret for attendance, he explained, was that the Lions met at Reed’s Cafe. “I fed them,” he joked.

While he has a special membership in Lions now, “I still belong and sometimes go to a meeting.”

Reed drove a school bus for 35 accident-free years, calculating he drove more than 250,000 miles.

And another little job he enjoyed was selling toys at a booth at the Shipshewana Flea Market for a few years.

He met his wife, the former Wilma Hawkins, on a blind date and they were married in 1938. They raised a son, Terry, and daughter, Sharon Letherman, and now have five grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. Wilma died in July, 2007. Terry died of a heart attack in May 2003.

Reed said he moved to Waterford Crossing two years ago. Before that, he took care of everything on their 40-acre farm near New Paris.

Reed said he has always been thin. He commented that he wonders if his slight build is a factor in his long life.

“I thought time would go slowly here, but it has gone fast. There is quite a lot to do. There are a lot of activities,” he explained. “This is a nice place and the food is good.”

The original development has 55 apartments, but construction is under way to expand the facility.

He drove until giving up his car about six months ago, he said.

“I miss driving. I have to wait on someone to drive me now,” he said, noting that a friend who helps him is now in a Fort Wayne hospital.

Reed said he is a huge Indiana University basketball fan and still likes former IU coach Bobby Knight.

“He’s still a good coach,” Reed said of Knight, a couple weeks after Knight announced his retirement at Texas Tech. He said he enjoys watching the games on his TV at his apartment or with relatives when he is visiting. He has also been a long-time baseball fan of the St. Louis Cardinals.

And he now watches golf, after cheering on his grandson, Zack Henderson, a senior at Northridge, who has played golf since he was 4.

Reed said he has been a Goshen News reader “for as long as I can remember. I still get it.”

The first section he pulls out, he says, is sports. But he said he reads the entire paper.

“You cover a lot of the New Paris area news,” Reed said.

But the big news this week will be the birthday celebrations for Reed. Members of the family plan to meet for a dinner at a Syracuse location over the weekend, and Lamar’s new friends at Waterford Crossing will honor him on Tuesday.