Obituary of William MacKenzie Reynolds, Jr.

William MacKenzie Reynolds, Jr., Colonel, USAF, (ret.) and former Sumter County Master-in Equity died on December 23, 2017 at Bishop Gadsden retirement community, Charleston, SC.  He was 96 years old. 

 

A Sumter County native, he was the son of the late William MacKenzie and Helen Janes Reynolds.  He graduated from The Citadel in the Class of 1942, was commissioned as a 2Lt. in the United States Army Infantry after which he was selected for and transferred to the Army Air Corps. After flight training he joined the 33^rd Fighter Group in North Africa where it was engaged in combat operations. During World War II he flew P-40 and the P-47 aircraft in the North African and Southern Italy campaigns and then in China, Burma and India as the 33^rd Fighter Group moved throughout that theater toward the end of the war.  Reynolds subsequently served in various leadership roles including commands in USAF fighter operations, intelligence and with the Inspector General of the Air Force during his 29 year Air Force Career.  Among his many military citations, awards and decorations were the Legion of Merit, the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal.

 

In 1972, Colonel Reynolds, after retiring from the Air Force and returning to his childhood home of Sumter, entered Law School at the University of South Carolina. He graduated in 1975 with Juris Doctor degree. He practiced law with the Firm of Nash & Chappell for several years before reopening the family firm of Reynolds & Reynolds established by his grandfather, Mark Reynolds, in 1887.  He was subsequently appointed as Master-in-Equity for Sumter County in 1983, a position in which he served for over ten years.

 

Colonel Reynolds was predeceased in death by his wife of 64 years, Nancy Nash Reynolds and is survived by his daughter Helen Janes Reynolds and his son William MacKenzie Reynolds III (Catherine) and six grandchildren; John Pinkney Harloe III (Nell), William M. Reynolds IV (Grace), Nancy Reynolds Hull (William), Nancy Witherspoon McKay Murphy (Gunn), Shepard Kollock Nash Harloe and Catherine Wells Reynolds as well as three Great Grandchildren. Honorary pallbearers are members of the Sumter County Bar Association.

 

In lieu of flowers, memorials to Bishop Gadsden Employee Fund, 1Bishop Gadsden Way, Charleston, SC 29412 or Church of the Holy Cross, 335 N. Kings Highway, Sumter, SC 29154.

 

Funeral Services were held at 11 AM Tuesday, December 26, in the Church of the Holy Cross with Father Joel Osborne officiating.

 

Burial followed in the Church Cemetery.

 

Elmore Hill McCreight Funeral Home and Crematory, 221 Broad St. is in charge. (803) 775-9386.