toledoblade.com -- Safety officer, golfer had 3 holes-in-one

Paul A. "Pug" Reynolds, a safety officer for two area corporations and an avid golfer who scored three holes-in-one on local courses, died Friday in St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center after a brief illness. He was 77.

Mr. Reynolds worked for 12 years in the 1950s and 1960s for the Acklin Stamping division of Tecumseh Products, first as a time study and methods engineer, and then as the division's safety director.

From 1968 to 1983, he was safety manager for the former Sheller-Globe Corp.

He then worked as a loss control consultant for Kemper Insurance, retiring in the early 1990s.

Mr. Reynolds was a longtime member of the Maumee Valley chapter of the American Society of Safety Engineers and served as the group's president in 1983-84.

He was also a past board member and president of the Toledo chapter of the American Institute of Industrial Engineers.

His son Joe Reynolds said his father was a stickler for safety and stressed the importance of preventing accidents to his five children.

"He was safety-oriented even at home," Joe Reynolds said.

"He couldn't tolerate our shoes and books at the back door for fear of tripping on them, and if he came home and the shoes and books were piled at the back door, he'd throw them outside, to teach us a lesson."

Mr. Reynolds, a lifelong Toledoan, spent most of his life on Castlewood Drive in West Toledo.

Born on Jan. 22, 1927, to Paul Joseph and Adaleah (Redcliffe) Reynolds, he was raised there and bought a house on the same street after marrying Therese Mackin on Oct. 20, 1951, in Rosary Cathedral.

Mr. Reynolds graduated from Central Catholic High School in 1945 and joined the Navy, serving at the Great Lakes Naval Station in Chicago at the tail end of World War II, his son said.

After completing his military service, Mr. Reynolds enrolled at the University of Detroit, where he earned a bachelor of science degree in industrial management.

Joe Reynolds said his father insisted that his children keep up with current events and religious studies and be able to discuss them during family dinners.

Mr. Reynolds, a staunchly conservative Republican, "liked a good, spirited debate," his son said.

Joe Reynolds said his father loved to golf and belonged to the Whiteford Valley Golf Course. He scored holes-in-one in 1979, 1997, and 2000.

For six decades, he also enjoyed monthly poker games with a group of friends from high school.

The group's members called themselves "The Mystic Knights of the Sea."

The name referred to the Amos and Andy radio show from the 1930s, Joe Reynolds said.

"My father's strength was his friends," he said.

"That was huge. They played cards every first Friday of the month … all the way until the end, all the way up to this year," he said.

He is survived by his sons, Paul Joseph and Mark; daughters, Christine Holliday, Susan Reynolds, and Mary Lynn Reynolds; and 10 grandchildren.

Visitation will be held from 3 to 9 p.m. tomorrow at the Ansberg-West Funeral Home, where a Scripture service will be said at 7:30 p.m.

A funeral Mass will be said at noon Wednesday at Blessed Sacrament Church.

The family requests memorial contributions to the Blessed Sacrament School Fund or a charity of the donor's choice.

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