SISTERS – Bill and Jan Reed brought the people of Sisters together in life.

Though they are gone, the Sisters community will continue to honor their legacy whenever it gathers at the newly named Reed Stadium.

The stadium was hushed on Friday as the Reed children clutched arms and watched their uncle accept a plaque bearing their parents’ names, which will be mounted on a large rock near the entrance to the facility.

Five birds fly in front of the Three Sisters mountains on the plaque – two large birds in front and three babies behind.

Ashley, Ryan and Brittany Reed didn’t cry at the ceremony. Instead, they grinned.

”It’s so appropriate,” said Ashley Reed, 24, of the naming of the stadium. ”It’s right in so many ways – we feel really honored.”

Bill, 57, and Jan Reed, 55, were killed on July 1 when a twin-engine plane they were flying to a Fourth of July family reunion crashed. The plane went down in about 25 feet of water off the coast of Lopez Island, in the San Juan Islands, Wash.

Ashley, Ryan, 22, and Brittany Reed, 18, were also in the plane but managed to swim to safety.

After Friday’s ceremony, the three sat on a cement wall in front of the field to watch the Sisters homecoming game against the Stayton Eagles, from near Salem.

Brittany Reed flew home from college at the University of San Diego to attend the game and naming ceremony. This weekend was Parents Weekend at the university.

Rather than spend a hard weekend there, it was special for her to be home celebrating her own parents this weekend, said Ashley Reed.

Ryan Reed attends school at the University of Oregon and Ashley Reed has lived in Sisters since July. She was injured in the crash and walked up to the field using arm crutches.

Glen Lasken, a Sisters School Board member and chairman of the stadium naming committee, said the ceremony was as much about recognizing the Reed children as it was about remembering Bill and Jan Reed.

”This is a way for the community to reach out to them. It’s a way to tell them what their parents meant to all of us,” he said.

And Bill and Jan Reed meant a lot.

”In so many ways, Bill and Jan Reed were the heart and soul of the schools,” Lasken told the crowd at the naming ceremony. ”For all they have done, Bill and Jan have to be remembered.”

Involved in the community

Bill Reed, who co-owned Coldwell Banker Reed Bros. Realty with his brother, Mike Reed, served on the school board for 13 years, nearly half of them as board chair, said Lasken.

Jan Reed devoted her life to her children and to volunteering within the school district, he added.

Lasken said that naming the stadium after the couple is a way to address a feeling of emptiness that still lingers in Sisters since they died.

”People still miss them, people still talk about them,” he said.

In some small way, going to a football game at Reed Stadium allows the community to fill that hole with something positive and uplifting, Lasken said.

Naming the stadium for the Reeds was discussed almost immediately after their deaths and was a natural choice for memorializing them because it is a large venue and Bill Reed spent many years prowling the sidelines, cheering on the kids, Lasken said.

As the idea of naming the stadium for the Reeds circulated through the community, Lasken was called at work and approached on the sidewalks about it – the outpouring of support was huge, he said.

”Very seldom do you come across something where support is so overwhelming,” he said.

Bob Macauley, principal of Sisters High School and coach of the Outlaw football team, said Bill Reed was never an official coach on the team, but from about 1996 to 2001 he was on the sidelines of nearly every game helping Macauley record the plays.

”He was kind of an ambassador of goodwill to the kids. It was like having a coach/cheerleader,” he said.

Bill Reed also worked to pass two local options levies and was a central figure in the passage of a bond measure in 2001 that paid for the new high school.

His duties as Sisters School Board chair took up much of his time after 2001, but Reed still came to all the football games, Macauley said.

”I remember in 1998, we played our first championship game,” Macauley said. ”Bill bought 72 state championship hats on his own – he didn’t tell anybody. He had them on the sidelines and we won in the last two minutes. He was the happiest guy around, passing out hats like crazy.”

Devoted to schools

Jan Reed was involved in district sports, too, said Pat Wellman, whose daughter played volleyball with Brittany Reed.

Wellman said Jan Reed was also involved for many years with SMART readers and served on site councils in the district, which tackle issues at the three individual schools.

Reed volunteered at each of her children’s schools for as long as they were in school and was active in the parent-teacher community.

One of her greatest strengths was fundraising, Wellman said.

”Anytime there was a fundraising project, she was the first person called. She was just great at getting people together,” Wellman said.

Their home was always filled with kids and they had many wonderful friends, she said.

”It has really hit our community hard,” she said. ”We miss them so much.”

The Reeds’ contributions to the community stretched further than the district. They were also involved in the Sisters Chamber of Commerce and numerous service organizations in the city.

Sisters will always remember the Reeds as amazing community builders, said Jeff Smith, current Sisters School Board chairman.

”In many ways, they were the first citizens of Sisters,” Smith said. ”When Bill and Jan moved to Sisters, it was kind of a sleepy little town without the extraordinary sense of community that it has today. Bill and Jan were huge contributors in creating … a sense of community that pervades everything that is special about Sisters. They were good folks and we learned a lot from them.”

Macauley said the passing of Jan and Bill Reed has closed a chapter in the life of Sisters. ”It seems like there is a quiet now while we wait for the next leaders to rise,” he said. ”We lost a couple of people who were that important in our community.”

Although Bill and Jan Reed will be remembered for all their contributions, they would probably have most liked to be recognized for the strength of their children, Macauley said.

”I think as good as Bill and Jan were for our community, their legacy is three great kids,” he said.

Now that they are gone, Macauley sees the couple’s confidence coming out as their children go through this tough time.

”That would probably please Bill and Jan the most,” he said.