Roosevelt Security Aide Marie Reynolds Dies at 66

Marie Reynolds was a fixture at , whether she was chasing students down the hallway, encouraging them to follow their dreams or steering them away from drinking and driving.

A firecracker. A pistol. A spitfire.

All words used to describe the woman that those who knew her best said were the very reasons she was loved by so many.

Reynolds, who worked as a security aide at Roosevelt from 1989 to 2006, died Monday, Nov. 21. She was 66.

While security aide was her title, Reynolds of Wyandotte was involved in students’ lives, whether she was assisting the school’s truancy officer, working over the summer months on the school’s switchboard or running the school’s SADD and DARE programs.

Nick Bader, a 1991 Roosevelt grad, said Reynolds is one of the few people from high school who has left a lasting impact on his life.

“She was one of the most influential individuals that I know,” he said. “With the women in my life, it’s my grandmother, mother, wife, children and then Marie Reynolds. From being a kid growing up and having her involved in my high school years, you could see she appreciated the relationships she had with the kids. She treated you like a young man and young woman. … She truly cared for every life that she touched.”

While some remember Reynolds as the short woman with black curly hair who chased them down the hallway when they were caught skipping classes, Bader said, she was much more than that.

“Whether kids were skipping class or smoking out back, she saw them at the low point of their lives, but was never judgmental,” he said. “She got to see a kid in their own environment doing their own thing. She understood that was just the rebellious portion of the kid. Regardless of the situation, though, she always found the best in everybody. She taught you at a very young age that people matter and that relationships matter.”

While he lost touched with Reynolds after high school, Bader said he reconnected with her when he moved his business, , into Wyandotte.

“She stopped in the office two months after we opened and asked me to speak at her daughter’s high school in Huron,” he said. “I had the opportunity then to sit and chat with her and thank her for who she was and let her know the mark she left on my life.”

Bader said he last saw Reynolds two weeks ago when she stopped into his office with her grandchildren.

“We hugged and laughed in the normal Marie Reynolds fashion,” he said. “I can’t believe she’s gone. She touched thousands and thousands of lives. The amount of lives and relationships she has built throughout Wyandotte is amazing.

“You can’t say enough good things. She was an angel. She really was. Wyandotte lost a good one.”

Reynolds is survived by her husband, Lee; a daughter, Tina Marie Sutherlin; a son, Chuck Sutherlin; five grandchildren, Amanda, Jessica, and Makayla Dunn and Sanea and Jagr Sutherlin. She is also survived by her beloved brothers and sisters.

Visitation is set from 1 to 8 p.m. Sunday at . The service is set for 11 a.m. Monday at the funeral home. Burial will follow at . A memorial luncheon will be held until 4 p.m. at the Wyandotte VFW Post No. 1136, 639 Ford Ave.