Hale Edward Reynolds was born in a coal mining camp on January 30, 1915 in Mohawk, West Virginia. He was the second to the youngest of 10 children, born to William and Polly (Thornsberry) Reynolds.

Hale started working in the coal mines at about 14 years old. When he was around 18 years old he joined the CCC camp and headed out to California to work in the forests, building roads. After a few months, his stint was over and he went back to working in the coal mines in Kentucky. In 1936 he joined the Army and was stationed in Fort Knox, Kentucky.

His troop was picked to precision march at the Cleveland Expo in 1937 and that is where he met my mother, Frances Zochowski. She was working at a restaurant at the Expo. They dated for about 2 years and married January 21, 1939. Before he married my mother he became Catholic and had to have a Christian name, it was changed to Richard Hale Reynolds. The day after they married, they moved to Chicago.

I was born April 19, 1941 and raised in Chicago. As an only child, it was lonesome living away from my relatives. We tried to see Grandma Polly at least once a year. We would take the long ride on the bus to see her. It was fun to go and see her and hear family stories, I wish I could remember them all. One time we got to stay at the old Reynolds Homestead. It was sad to hear that it had been torn down.

Dad worked in a factory in the city and when the factory moved to the suburbs, dad bought a car. He and mom loved to travel, so we went a lot of places by car. They spoiled me in that way, because I too love to travel. They lived the rest of their lives in Chicago.

I'm very proud of my heritage and appreciate all the hardships my ancestors went through to make a better life for us. That's why I believe the genealogy of our family is important, because it is a part of history.

Respectfully submitted by:

June Reynolds DuCharme