Friday, April 27, 2007
John J. ReedDefense, Construction Expert
John J. Reed, 79, former deputy assistant secretary of defense and former deputy assistant commissioner of the General Services Administration, died of a hemorrhagic stroke April 4 at North Carolina Memorial Hospital in Chapel Hill. He was a former resident of Alexandria.
Mr. Reed, a sixth-generation Washingtonian, served in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations from 1961 to 1969 as the head of a newly created organization in the Department of Defense responsible for management of the Military Family Housing Program. He helped oversee the withdrawal of U.S. military installations from France and was later awarded the Secretary of Defense Meritorious Service Medal.
During the late 1980s, Mr. Reed served as deputy assistant commissioner of the GSA and was responsible for overseeing major construction, rehabilitation and real estate leasing programs for federal agencies. He later worked in the office of the assistant secretary of the Army on base realignment and closure issues until his retirement in 1990.
Mr. Reed grew up in Alexandria and graduated from George Washington High School there. During World War II, he served on the personal staff of Navy Adm. Chester Nimitz, commander in chief of the Pacific Fleet.
He received an industrial engineering degree from Virginia Tech and a law degree from Georgetown University in 1956.
From 1958 to 1961, Mr. Reed served as executive assistant to the assistant secretary of the Navy. From 1969 to 1981, he was a partner in the Washington law firm Hudson & Creyke, specializing in construction contracts.
A die-hard Washington Redskins fan, Mr. Reed was a longtime season ticket-holder who once covered football as a sportswriter for the Virginia Tech student newspaper.
He was a resident of Pittsboro, N.C., where he moved from Alexandria a year and a half ago.
Survivors include his wife of 52 years, Addie Reed of Pittsboro; three children, Susan Jackson of Chevy Chase, Ann Hume of Chapel Hill and Dr. John Reed of Fayetteville, N.C.; and five grandchildren.
Earl Joseph SchmittNavy Commander, Comptroller
Earl Joseph Schmitt, 86, a Navy commander and comptroller of the Appalachian Regional Commission, died April 17 at Davis Health Care Center in Wilmington, N.C. He had Alzheimer's disease.
Mr. Schmitt, a Baltimore native and a graduate of Loyola College in Baltimore, received a master's degree from George Washington University in 1953. He served for 23 years in the Navy's Supply Corps, retiring in 1965 at the rank of commander.
For the next 28 years, he worked in Washington for the Appalachian Regional Commission until he retired in 1993.
A member of the Riverdale Lions Club and St. Jerome's Catholic Church, Mr. Schmitt was mayor of the town of Riverdale in the late 1960s. He also was chairman of the Prince George's County Municipal Association and on the board of the Sea Terrace Condominiums in Ocean City. He moved to North Carolina in 2006.
His wife of 52 years, Margaret Mary Wheatley Schmitt, died in 1996.
Survivors include seven children, Theresa Crawmer of Stafford, Earl Schmitt Jr. of Star Tannery, Va., Paul Schmitt of Crofton, Winship Schmitt of Wilmington, N.C., John Schmitt of Emerald Isle, N.C., Philip Schmitt of New Carrollton and Jerome Schmitt of Ocean City; two sisters, Loretta Amrod of Saugerties, N.Y., and Angela Higgins of Linthicum Heights; a brother, Edward Schmitt of Beltsville; 18 grandchildren; and 14 great-grandchildren.
Christina RegneryHostess
Christina Regnery, 59, a hostess with a deep interest in music, died April 22 of complications of a heart attack at George Washington University Hospital. She was an Alexandria resident.
Mrs. Regnery, a native of Chicago and a graduate of the University of Wisconsin, was a pianist who served on the board of the Arlington Symphony for several years. She also was an organizer and sponsor of the annual evening of Viennese waltzes at the Organization of American States building.
She was active in the conservative movement. With her husband, who is the publisher of the Arlington-based American Spectator magazine, she sponsored many lavish parties at her home for political and inaugural events.
Her social events included outdoor parties each summer for amateur string quartet, quintet and sextet performances by family members and friends.
She was also a sponsor for foreign students and an occasional substitute teacher at T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria. She converted to Catholicism in 2002 and attended Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Georgetown.
Survivors include her husband of 37 years, Alfred S. Regnery of Alexandria; four children, George Regnery of Ridgefield, Conn., Alfred W. Regnery and Charles Regnery, both of Alexandria, and Louise Regnery of West Palm Beach, Fla.; a brother; and one grandson.
Patricia Pate CunninghamTeacher, Church Officer
Patricia Pate Cunningham, 74, a former teacher who became the first director of the National Presbyterian School and who was a leader in the National Presbyterian Church, died April 14 at her home in Chevy Chase. She had liver failure from complications of breast cancer.
Mrs. Cunningham served as head of the National Presbyterian School from 1969 to 1972. Later, she worked 10 years as a writer-editor at the National Institute on Aging, retiring from there in 1993.
At National Presbyterian Church in Washington, she served on the bicentennial committee, was co-dean of all church retreats, and was a member and officer of the Women's Association. As a ruling elder member of the Session, the church's ruling body, she served as the chairman of the Congregational Care Pillar, the Library and Archives Council and the Older Adults Council. She recently served as a trustee of the National Presbyterian School.
Mrs. Cunningham, who was born in Newbern, Tenn., was valedictorian of her high school class and received a bachelor's degree in history and political science from the University of Tennessee in 1955. She taught school and directed day-care centers in Columbus, Ohio, for several years before moving with her husband to Rockville in 1966.
She was a docent at the Smithsonian Museum of American History for 29 years and a White House volunteer during the Clinton administration.
Survivors include her husband, George W. Cunningham of Chevy Chase; two children, John Cunningham of Baltimore and Ann Clessas of Alexandria; a brother; and two grandsons.