Fitness employee Bill Reynolds, who passed away Oct. 26, 2010, was honored in memorial service at the NAS Whidbey Island Gym March 4. Reynolds, who had worked at the gym for over 10 years after retiring from the Navy as an Chief Aviation Electrician, passed away just one month after he was diagnosed with stage four cancer.

Current and former co-workers, as well as old friends, gathered in the gym’s lobby to share memories of Reynolds and pay their respects. He was remembered as a sometimes grumpy man who, below that sometimes gruff surface, deeply cared about the job he performed and the individuals he worked with.

“When he started working for me in ball field maintenance, I couldn’t have had a better employee,” recalled Ron McEntee, the gym’s intramural sports coordinator. “He read my mind: anything I needed was done without me ever having to ask.”

Christina Linares, a customer service representative who worked will Reynolds, became very close with him over years of working together. “We sometimes did argue, but we learned to respect and care for each other very much. He was there for me when my mom passed away from cancer, and I’ll never forget that friendship.”

Gary Robinson, who served as the station’s intramural sports coordinator before McEntee and also supervised Bill, remembered his work ethic: “He took his job seriously, did more than was asked and was an example for a lot of us. Yeah, he was grumpy, but he had the biggest heart and would do anything for anyone.”

Russ Gale, MWR’s community activities manager, echoed those sentiments. “The thing that strikes me most about Bill is that he enjoyed being around everyone here at the gym. His co-workers were his extended family and he cherished that.”

As his adopted family, employees at the gym wanted to make sure that Bill would always be remembered by staff, Sailors and all those individuals whose hearts Bill touched. They started a collection to purchase a memorial for Reynolds.

When AME1 Tyrone Presto, the NAS Whidbey Island First Class Petty Officers Association’s (FCPOA) Master at Arms, found out about the collection, he encouraged the FCPOA to donate additional funds to make the memorial a reality.

Presto has played intramural softball for several seasons at NAS and remembers witnessing Reynolds’ hard-working spirit. “I saw Bill out on the ball fields all the time, shoveling dirt, painting lines for football and softball. Whatever needed to be done, Bill was always there. We just wanted to make sure he knew we appreciated that and remembered him.”

Thanks to the collection and the support of the FCPOA, Reynold’s legacy will remain at NASWI for many years to come: a shadowbox containing a United States flag and a wooden plaque inscribed with a smiling photo of Bill Reynolds now hang in the lobby in his honor.