Jill A. Reed

Jill A. Reed, age 70, of Florida and summertime resident of 16 Mile Lake, Munising, died unexpectedly at her summer home in Munising on Friday, July 17, 2016. She was born on December 16, 1944 in Chicago, Illinois to the late Charlie and Helen (Dimich) Minetti, Jr. Jill grew up in Chicago and during her junior year in high school, she turned down a prom invite from a classmate, Ken Reed. Ken came back during their senior year and asked again. Jill agreed and the rest was a beautiful yin and yang love story that celebrated over fifty years of marriage, three wonderful children, and seven even better than wonderful grandchildren. Jill was a woman who had a natural gift of making the world a better place. She was tenderhearted, fun, abhorred sadness, and could always find the silver lining in any situation. Jill was creative, imaginative and talented. She sacrificed some of those qualities so she could protect and make her children's world a perfect place. As a family, they always had fun. When something was unordinary or someone had made a mistake, Jill found a way to make it a life lesson with a smile and encouraged her children to just fudge it a little to make things better. Her children had a wonderful childhood and always thought it was normal that the chocolate Easter bunnies did not have ears, after all, the Blue Fairy needed nourishment. As a mother, she fiercely loved her children, but they were easily pushed aside when those grandchildren showed up. They had wonderful family trips together and they always knew how much they were loved. She was a woman who was wise beyond her years and has left her family a lifetime of cherished memories.

She is survived by her husband - Ken Reed; their children - Kendra Reed of New Orleans, LA, Kevin (Kelley) Reed of Rockford, MN, and Kori Reed (Michael Becker) of Omaha, NE; and seven grandchildren - Kedzie, Madi, A.J., Logan, Kailyn, Kacey, and Keaton.

Jill's advice to those who loved her would be:
Do not linger at my tomb and weep,
I am not there, I do not sleep.
I am a thousand soft winds that blow
And happy memories within your soul.