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Jeff’s would have been 60 today

August 15, 2020
Heather and I will toast Jeff‘s birthday and our fond memories of him with a bottle of 1997 Bin 389 Penfolds Cabernet Shiraz that I opened using the Trader Joe’s cork screw Jeffsent to me at my hotel in a Federal Express bag along with salami, cheese and crackers as part of my survival kit when I was staying in Chicago.

Penfold's St Henri

August 15, 2017

I remember Jeff Reid very fondly and think of him very often. As a matter of fact I have so much stuff he did for us on my PC I still stumble on his name at least once a week. The bottle of wine was a gift I wanted to take him in appreciation for all the good work he had done for us, but this was the time of "weapons of mass destruction" and they would not let me take it onto the aircraft. Luckily Heather was with me at the checkin and I was able to take it out of my carry on and give it to her to take home.

When I got back from the US I wrote Jeff's name on the bottle and said to him I was keeping it so we could share it when he came back to Australia. More than five years later and not long before he died Jeff came to Sydney and I promised him dinner at a harbour restaurant called Pebbles, but for whatever reason he chose to come to my home and Heather cooked us dinner. We enjoyed the bottle of St Henri, and Jeff covered up his name in the photo that I had written on the bottle.

Alfred Papallo





One year later

October 31, 2015

Today, I was out in our back yard trying to get some water on our pasture.  We planted seed and unfortunately have been hit with somewhat of a dry spell. Camron left early to fox hunt, so I got out there early and was making my way around our land to try and find the best solution to getting the sprinklers on as much of our back 5 acres.  Around 10am I came up on the side of the house where Jeff and I had walked our horses in just a little over a year ago.  I stood there in that exact same spot and remembered that day. He asked Cam to take the photo of he and I and our horses.   As always, he was getting ready to ship out, but he did not discount the visit with any distraction. After playing with our German Sheppard on the tire swing, he came in, poured us all wine and Jeff, Camron and I talked the night away.  The next day he left for Asia.  It would be the last time I saw him.  

One year later...I miss my brother.  I miss the person that taught me, led me, mentored me, and was the person that always had my back.

We grew up together.  We played sports on the same team.  In soccer and hockey, I got the glory and you stood by my side.   At night, as kids we talked in our rooms about life.  I can remember sitting on each others beds and talking until we fell asleep. 

Jeff, you were a great big brother to me.  Thank you.  I am sorry that I didn’t have the chance to tell you one more time that I love you. 

So...I love you Jeff.  

I will see you again.

Dave

 

October 31, 2015

I remember the first time I met Jeff.  Dave and I were dating and Jeff came to stay with us at my house for the weekend.  He gave us the most beautiful hand painted gourd with the top carved to be removed like a box.  It is so unique, and particularly thoughtful because it was made by an artist in Chattagnooga, which is a town that is dear to all of us.  I was born there and my parents and grandparents lived there.  Dave and Jeff spent some years in Chattanooga and still have family there.  It was a place in the world central to us all.  Making his gift all the more thoughtful.

Throughout his visit, I returned to that gift and the thought he put into it.  But what struck me most was the impracticality of it.  How had he just arrived in the states, typical of Jeff, from some foriegn exotic land and managed to arrive on our doorstep bereing the most thoughtful of housewarming gifts?  He had a gift for hospitality and moved effortlessly through the world able to make things look easy that the rest of us struggle with.  I always thought of Jeff as fluid, seemlessly passing in and out of our lives.  Crossing the world with an ease few can imagine.  

Yet when he was here, he was so present.  In my life, I've known few people with Jeff's ability to make the people he was with feel so interesting.  Though he was the one with the stories to tell, he rarely did. Jeff was one of the best conversationalists I've ever known, able to speak with first hand experience about all manner of subjects, while remaining absolutely respectful of the views of everyone else.  He told of his travels only when directly asked, and seemed much more interested in learning about others than telling about himself.  What I would give for the opportunity to ask more questions.

We miss you deeply, Jeff.
Love,
Camron 

Goodbye

October 31, 2015

Sir you left too soon!  Your family and friends miss you.  

Snow Skiing at Sugar Mountain in 1980

October 31, 2015

One day Jeff and I drove to Sugar Mountain, NC and skied for the day.  We had gotten up early, maybe 5am, to drive up.  We skied all day drinking red wine from a a couple of botas (wine bag - look it up).

We left about 3pm drunk and exhasuted.  We drove into town and stoped at a convience store.  Somehow we both fell asleep in the car.  We woke up a few hours later, still in the car, but we were about 3 miles away in the parking lot of a auto parts store.  

Either of us remembered how we got there.  We were both convinced that aliens had pick us up and moved the car.  That was the only explaination. 

Graduation Lunch at The Organery, Knoxville, TN Dec. 12, 1981

October 31, 2015

I graduated from Undergrad that day.  Jeff and Lisa came to the lunch my parents hosted after Graduation.  

I spent a lot of good times with Jeff during Undergrad, but also Lisa too.  Jeff and I waited tables at TGI Fridays together.  

Freedom was getting off work, having just finished the dinner shift at 11pm with $80.00 in cash in your pocket.

All us waiters would go out drinking and running around Ktown till about 1am.  

The first time I met Jeff he was waiting tables that day and I was the host at TGI Fridays.  I was standing at the door greeting people.  He walked up to me and asked me if I had an extra pen?  He had came to work without one.  I told him no, I did not have a extra pen.  He looked at me dead in the eye an said:  "What good are you" and walked off.  :) 

150 The Prado, Atlanta GA in the summer of 1989

October 31, 2015

My first wife and I purchase our first house at 150 The Prado in Ansley Park in Atlanta, GA in 1987.  Jeff and his Mom (Tex?) come over for dinner when he moved to Atlanta with Lisa in about that year (1989).  I had never meet his Mom but she was a long time Atlanta resident and clearly loved Jeff.  

When she told me about being from Decatur.  She told me that the old Decatur dating saying was that you:

"went to Winder to find her, Decatur to date her and Tucker to fXXXXX her!"

Jeff must have never hear this story before because he doubled over in laughter and fell out of his dinner chair.

I recall both Jeff and his Mom being very entertaining and fun that evening.

January 29, 2015

So many of you who knew and loved Jeff have talked about his kindness and generosity, good nature, his curiosity and creativity, his hilarious sense of humor and engaging ways, and his love for family and friends. His leadership skills and the ways he inspired so many people. His expertise in marketing and e-commerce. And his passion for travel. All things I knew and loved about him too. I’ve enjoyed reading all these stories…. what a character he was! For weeks now, I’ve been thinking about what to write about Jeff, to add to the story. I’ve finally come to something that feels right…

I’ve known Jeff since October 2004. We met while I was working on a project in Charleston, SC. He lived in Charlotte, NC at the time, and two weeks after we met, we were on a trip to Mexico together! After that sun-filled, fun-filled getaway, I was hooked on travel, and certainly hooked on Jeff Reid.

Jeff was the last man I was lucky enough to fall in love with. During the time we dated, and after our dating days when we remained friends, he lived many places. Lots of cool locales with water and boats - Malta, The Philippines, Antigua, Spain, Vancouver, Hong Kong, Dallas, Atlanta, Nashville, Tampa, Sarasota. I was fortunate enough to spend some time with him in a few of those places, and to have him here occasionally in the city where I live, Nashville, TN.

We’d talk often about traveling, and of being on the move versus settling down, and about the benefits/possibilities/downfalls of building a more permanent life somewhere (not necessarily together). We shared a certain wanderlust, but Jeff had it much worse than I. To some degree, I think I represented Jeff’s desire to settle down and have a home, a pet (like Chalmers!), a significant other, a more grounded life. And just as much, Jeff was my restlessness - my desire to live an unfettered life, to see the world and go places with boldness. Prior to meeting Jeff, I’d traveled almost nowhere outside the US. His presence in my life has inspired me to go, see, and do so much. In the last 10 years, I’ve been to Mexico, The West Indies, Tanzania, Argentina, Chile, Panama, British Columbia, Malta, Tunisia, Hawaii, and much of the western US – sometimes with Jeff, sometimes solo or with organized groups. He was the original trip advisor, and I’ll miss his vast travel knowledge and insight.

One of the things he wrestled with was knowing that he would soon take on a challenging job in another city or country, or just be overcome by that urge to get up and go, and would have to move on. He sometimes joked about always buying the smallest quantities of household goods – groceries, spices, foil, etc. - since he never thought he’d be staying anywhere for very long. Packing up and getting rid of his stuff was something that got old to him. He loved traveling , but, like most of us, he disliked having to move. I know part of Jeff wanted to settle in somewhere long enough to justify buying a really big roll of aluminum foil, the economy size that would last a long, long time.

I spoke with Jeff in Hong Kong a few weeks before he died. He loved it there. He was doing what he loved the most, and knew that there was some other great thing waiting for him just around the corner. That makes me smile and brings a certain amount of balance, especially when I think about the sadness that his absence makes me feel. Jeff was truly alive in his life, traveling to and living in so many places around our great big planet. Most of us only dream about the life he lived. He left this world way too early, but then again, it wasn't really Jeff’s way to linger too long in one place.

I’ll miss you always Jefe. Bon Voyage, my friend!
Groovy

My friend Jeff

January 1, 2015

As I write this tribute to my friend Jeff Reid, I am smiling and yet profoundly saddened.  I met Jeff in 1989 when he was a sales manager for Tensar.  I was his sales rep in Portland, Oregon and we immediately hit it off.  He talked the talk and walked the walk.  A few years later, Jeff moved on from Tensar and actually moved to Portland to do consulting work and start one of his many businesses.  Our friendship grew even stronger as I asked Jeff to stand at my wedding 1993.

I found out real quickly that Jeff was one of the most driven and ambitious people I had ever met.  At the same time, he always had time to tell a funny story and a lot of the time it was a self deprecating story.  We all know that his eyesight was challenged and there was an incident at the wedding rehearsal when he and I were walking out of a building and I heard a sound of something bouncing on the sidewalk.  It was Jeff's glass eye that had popped out and went bouncing down the sidewalk into the bushes.  As he scrambled to retrieve it, all I can remember is that he had cleaned it off and put back in less than 10 seconds. He started laughing and as we continued he said something like "I bet you've never heard a glass eye bouncing down the sidewalk!"  He also told me a story about the time he landed in Atlanta after an all night flight, stumbled into the terminal, and the first thing on his mind was to use the facilities.  As he slid the lock on the stall, he heard a voice and realized he was in the ladies restroom.  He didn't quite know what to do so he finished his business and waited for silence to make his escape only to be confronted by two women entering as he was scurrying out.  They yelled at him and called him a pervert as he ran out.

As I look back on my 25 year sales career, Jeff is one of the most influential people.  His infectious enthusiasm, incredible listening skills and desire to make the sale are traits that I've tried to emulate over my career.  Jeff's career path took him all over the world while mine never moved a mile, as I still live and work in the same place and the same industry.  All the while, I tried to keep in touch with him via e-mail and Jeff would always answer me with the nickname "Hey Greggo..."  that I'll always remember because he is the only person that called me by that name.  I can't ever remember Jeff talking ill will about anybody.  If he did, he made a very short comment, that was short and to the point and never brought it up again.  He was a "glass half full" kind of guy and I never saw him down and out.  

I never knew Jeff's childhood story so I loved reading Dave's story.  Wow, what a journey from getting straight "F's" to getting a college degree to being one of the most successful people you'd ever meet.  Jeff's attitude and smarts took him from the deepest valley in high school to the highest mountain as an adult and businessman. 

Jeff was so humble that I am sure he would be embarrassed by all of the stories here.  He would probably say "move on, nothing to see here" but we all know that is the farthest thing from the truth.  Jeff never shortchanged anything in life and I feel honored and blessed to call him my friend. 

RIP Jeff, I love you buddy.

"Greggo"
 

Alfred P

December 26, 2014

I spoke with Jeff a few weeks ago, and got an email from him on October 16, and he was in good spirits and looking forward to going back to Atlanta and doing some work for Home Depot.

 

Jeff was a good friend of mine. Jeff was a giver, and I enjoyed his company. We talked about all kinds of things, and I enjoyed hearing his travel experiences, which spanned more countries than anyone else I know. He was a hard working consultant, who went to extraordinary lengths to give his clients value for money. Above all, he had integrity and was not afraid to tell you what he believed, even if it wasn’t what you wanted to hear. I will miss Jeff, as I am sure you and all his friends will.

Alfred 

Just one of Jeff's stories

December 26, 2014

In the hope I come back and tell anoher story or two about Jeff, I'm indulging myself with the easier path of telling just one short story about Jeff. 

It's actually second hand, in that I wasn't there, but Jeff told me the story, so I'm likely to get it about 50% right (goldfish memory doesn't help). 

As Dave has told us, and most of us knew, Jeff lost one eye. I had forgotten, or perhaps never knew, the BB story, but certainly knew he was one short. Frankly though, I'm not sure I'd ever have known had he not pointed it out. Now that I think about it he did turn his head a litle when he held your gaze, but seemed unimpeded most of the time.

As Jeff tells the story, one day he was at an airport (now there's a surprise) moving between or around terminals, as one does. He grabbed a coffee and was walking at a pace. He neared a corner - an opening out to another concourse and slammed into another traveller walking from that councourse towards his. Whose fault it was might have been the subject of some debate, but if they were cars, and not pedestrians, their insurance companies would probably treat the collision as knock-on-knock (mutual fault) and neither pay the other. 

But they were not cars, and Jeff was not an insurer. So rather than knock-on-knock it was coffee-on-traveller. Jeff, known for his southern manners, apologised profusely. Something like "Sir, I am soooooo sorry. That problem is having only one eye. It makes it hard to see others."

Placated? Hell no. The guy wanted to punch Jeff's lights out (or actually his one light out, but theat's being pedantic). It turned out the guy was missing the opposite eye to Jeff, and they blind-sided each other. I'm not sure how they worked out the miscommunication, but you have to imagine belly laughs. If not then, certainly many times after.

From Glen Luecke

December 24, 2014

I wrote a book in order to provide a sense of history, etc. for my grandchildren, great grandchildren, etc.  In that book I paid tribute to a few friends knowing they would see the words after I passed on.  Here is what I wrote about Jeff:    (SCA was my rep firm, Sarlon was a company we started up to import shade cloth from Australia, YOLO was a company Jeff started and we bought from him after he got the bones fleshed out.  He developed a truck bed mat from inexpensive plastic mesh to give a low priced mat protection to the truck bed, YOLO being an acronym for You Only Live Once.)

 "Another great friend who grew out of the SCA relationship is Jeff Reid.

 Jeff was not long out of the University of Tennessee, where he was a standout in marketing, when he took a regional sales manager position with a startup company named Tensar Polytechnologies, which had a patented process of heating and stretching a film of polyethylene and forming it into very strong lengths, heights and colors to be used as fencing for gardens as well as utility functions such as snow fence or barricades for construction sites, etc.   

 Tensar hired SCA as the agency to represent them.  That began a relationship with Jeff that continues to this day and Jeff remains a dear friend who possesses one of the keenest and most interesting minds I have personally known.  Jeff could get off an airplane in about any city you could name and quickly get the pulse of the place, drill down through layers of information and develop a startup business of some kind from scratch and bring it to fruition……in fact, I have seen him do just that………and more than once.   In one such instance, Jeff published a restaurant and entertainment guide for Austin, Texas.   Remarkably, he did so after  living there but a short time.

 His curiosity is insatiable and his constant monitoring of all manner of events and businesses going on around the world is truly unique and remarkable.  An avid adventurer, Jeff has visited almost 100 of the world’s countries but takes very few photos and buys no trinkets.  His memories are all that he keeps of his travels and his modesty is so pervasive it almost takes a cattle prod to get him to talk about his experiences.

 Since the Tensar days I have had the good fortune to work with him on several projects.  It was Jeff who did the marketing on Sarlon and  YOLO was his idea.   

 Jeff now functions as an international business consultant with his own company and we are in constant contact. " 

 

From Aj Thompson

December 24, 2014

Seventeen years so closely together yet regularly apart.

From the outback to the city, we’ve built companies together, we’ve sold companies together.

We’ve fought for what we believed was right and stood solid together through thick and thin.
We’ve been away from each other for years and re-joined each other as if we’d never left.

The parties have been epic, the experiences unbelievable.

You were my foe, my ally, my mentor and the person who had my back even when I was least deserving of it.
You will be sorely missed but always remembered.

RIP Jeff

From Leesa Hawthorne

December 24, 2014

Dear Friends,

 

If you are reading this letter than you also knew and loved the amazing  Jeff Reid. I still have not wrapped my heart or my mind around the fact that he is gone and that I will never again hear his amazing voice say "hey Freckles, how are ya?" or join him in his hysterical laughter. God he made me laugh!

 

I met Jeff in the seventh grade at Evansdale Elementary School and experienced my first crush. Jeff was very cool at the time ,he had long hair that he wore over his left eye and swung it to the side when he spoke. He always wore this old long jacket that he somehow made look mysterious. Jeff was the first boy I ever kissed and he has owned a part of my heart ever since. Though we tried to be more that friends many times during our growing up years our incredible friendship always seemed to get in the way. And yet we were always more than just friends. We understood each other and loved each other. My mom whom Jeff lovingly called "Ma Foo Foo" adored him as well. I have many wonderful memories of Jeff at my house just hanging out, eating dinner, and boating with my family. 

 

Jeff and I were best friends with Stephanie Hurst and Billy Mona in high school and we would meet regularly at Jeff's house, which was always unchaperoned. We named our little group "The Kingdom" and we all sang along with passion at Fleet Wood Mac's line..."you'd better put your kingdom up for sale." we would scream, never!!!!!  

 

Jeff and I stayed in touch over the years through our marriages and divorces and moves to far away lands. Last Thanksgiving he moved back to Atlanta and we reconnected our friendship as if no time had passed at all.

 

I have loved Jeff for 42 years and I will think of him and remember him and miss him for the rest of my life. I know that Heaven became a lot brighter the day he arrived. I picture him bouncing from one heavenly vista to another...never one to stay in the same place too long. As for me, just knowing he is there and that one day I can join him and laugh and play again gives me peace.

 

I love you Jeffrey Alan Reid...Always

Leesa Hawthorne

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