Director Rick Reed
Rick Reed became the Director of LIFE, a widow/widowers social support group sponsored by Beyers Funeral Home and Crematory, in October 2010.
He gained some notoriety since he began writing about Lake and Sumter counties after moving here in 1991. His work has appeared in The Daily Commercial, The Lake Sentinel, Lake Magazine and Healthy Living Magazine. His Reminisce column, which looks at local the history of Lake and Sumter counties, has appeared in The Daily Commercial since 1998 and Reflections on the Religion Page since May 1997. He has also served as the City Curator of the Leesburg Historical Museum from 2003 to 2008 after an eight-year career with the Commercial. He wrote the Sesquicentennial History of Leesburg in 2007, a 240-plus page book of Leesburg’s history.
A two-time recipient of the Amy Award, National Christian Writing Award, Reed was also the second winner of the Hampton Dunn Golden Quill Award, presented by The Florida Historical Society in 2003. He was first recipient of the Lake County Historical Society Writer of the Year in 2007 and the LCHS Co-Historian of the Year in 2009.
He is married to Nancy, Dec. 28, 1975. They live in Mount Dora have two adult children, Rebecca Reed and Emily Godwin, both graduates of Florida Christian College in Kissimmee and Mount Dora High School, and two grandchildren, Oliver Miles Godwin and Vera Jane Godwin.
You can contact Rick at any time via phone at (352) 787-0403 or e-mail him at [email protected].