Benjamin Edward "Ed" Reynolds

Benjamin Edward “Ed” Reynolds, 66, of Toledo, Washington, passed away unexpectedly on April 18, 2026, leaving a large hole in our hearts.

Ed was born April 30,1959, in Imperial, Missouri. His younger years were in South St. Louis before moving to Potosi, MO, where he graduated from Potosi High School in 1978. He went on to serve in the US Army as a Signal Intelligence Analyst (Codebreaker) for over 21 years, retiring on May 31, 2001, with a rank of Master Sergeant. He received many medals and honors.

He was able to see the world being in places like Hawaii, Germany and Bosnia, to name just a few. He also spent a memorable 4 months in Alaska. In the winter. In a tent. He never went camping again.

Ed found retirement wasn’t working for him and after a couple of interesting jobs, he went back to work for the federal government. This time he was a civilian federal employee working for USDA Rural Development. He worked in Single Family Housing and Multi Family Housing. He retired as the Western Area Director after just under 22 years. After two amazing government careers, retirement finally took and he thoroughly enjoyed 3+ years of travel, canning and cooking while (not so) patiently waiting for Koni to join him.

During those 43 years of service, he also managed to earn 4-5 degrees in various fields and obtained his real estate license as a backup plan. He was a long-distance runner in high school and continued to run in marathons throughout his military career. He was also an amateur photographer his entire life and has a beautiful collection of, mostly, nature shots.

He trained himself to spin wood and has made many beautiful bowls throughout the years. Many Rural Development co-workers have one or more of his creations and everyone raves over them. He has created many other wood pieces, but bowls were always his first love.

Ed was incredibly smart, but you had to get to know him before you realized that because he was also very, very funny. Sometimes in a “can’t breathe because we’re laughing so hard” way and often in the eye rolling, groaning Dad Joke kind of way. And playing pranks. Had we ever won the lottery, the money would have been well spent on grand pranks. And quick one-liners and come backs. When he got “FU Ed” responses he was over the top like he had just won the lottery. He could sometimes also be found swimming in the pre-pubescent boy type of humor - more eye rolls and groans and he was happy.

Ed’s love language was food. No one in his orbit would ever go hungry regardless of the relationship. Once he retired, he spent a lot of time cooking for his family. He learned many new cuisines and wasn’t afraid to try anything. Not everything worked, but as he was fond of saying, “You don’t know if you don’t try”. Healthy was not a description of most of his meals, but comforting, loving, sharing, and pushing our taste buds was and we are all the better for it, if also needing to run more laps.

Ed is survived by his wife, Koni, daughter Shannon Reynolds of Fircrest, WA, stepsons Devlin (Brooke) Murray of St. Peters, MO and Mike (Fallyn) Davis of Toledo, WA, and four grandchildren, Vada (13), Evan (11), Haddon (6) and Theo (3). In spite of, his Grumpa Grumblings, he loved being a grandpa.

Ed was an organ donor, and this last act of love has provided the gift of life to two other families.

A Celebration of Life, with full military honors, will be held on May 31, 2026, at the Jacob Smith House, 4500 Intelco Loop SE, Lacey, WA from 12:00 - 3:00 PM. To honor his love language, we will be providing lunch, one of his/our simple comfort meals that has been universally loved. We invite all who knew him to attend and share your favorite memories.