William Dale Reeves

William Dale Reeves, 83, author, historian, and intellectual light, died peacefully in the arms of family on Saturday evening February 1st at Ochsner Foundation Hospital, after a long struggle with heart failure. Born in New Orleans, Bill grew up on Esplanade Avenue, where he attended McDonogh 28 grammar school. Later, he stoutly boarded three different buses from Esplanade Avenue to attend Isidore Newman High School. There, Dr. Frank Cernicek, a gifted history teacher, inspired him to choose his life’s work.

Graduating in 1959, Bill attended Williams College, MA, where he excelled in course work, and, typically, in chess and bridge. His earned his Ph. D in American history from Tulane University, teaching history at Xavier University during the 1970s, his students remembering him fondly along life’s later pathways. During those years, he co-founded the New Orleans Coalition supporting the local Civil Rights movement. He was also elected to the Orleans Parish School Board, serving two terms.

As a youth, Bill spent idyllic summers at the family’s vacation home in Bay St. Louis, with his parents, the late Dr. Richard Alfred Reeves, a biochemist with the Southern Regional Research Lab in New Orleans, and the late Jean Haver Reeves, a superb homemaker, cook, and president of the New Orleans League of Women Voters; along with his sister, retired mathematician Judy Reeves, and his brother, architect Michael Reeves. He learned sailing on the legendary sailboat Ceely, a wooden, gaff-rigged sloop built on Bayou St. John the year of Bill’s birth. He became an expert in sailing competition at the Bay Waveland Yacht Club, where he skippered the club’s first of numerous Thomas J. Lipton Cup championships, winning in both the Fish and Flying Scott classes.

Bill also directed the American Bicentennial in New Orleans, cofounded the New Orleans Wine and Food Experience, co-founded the Churchill Society of New Orleans, created a local Jane Austen club, and founded the present book club of the New Orleans Round Table Club. He loved reading, repeatedly returning to his favorite novel, Di Lampedusa’s The Leopard. In his middle years, he worked as a private historian, composing numerous publications for clients, among many, De LaBarre: Life of a Creole Family; Paths to Distinction (biographies of Dr. James White, and Chief Justice Edward Douglass White); and later, Historic Louisiana, a general history of the state. With his wife, Sally Kittredge Reeves, he authored Historic City Park: New Orleans, and more recently, Notable New Orleanians: A Tricentennial Tribute.

Bill’s erudite but kindly disposition earned the respect of all who knew him. His seven children loved and admired him, inspired by his patient demeanor and the love he expressed by countless actions. A convert to Catholicism, he was a loyal supporter of Holy Name of Jesus Parish, where his “Great Amens” were legendary. A near polymath, he was a formidable bread baker, also adept in plumbing repairs, electrical wiring, and furniture mending, A dog lover, Bill with his wife adopted ten orphan dogs at various times, including the great white shepherd Zoey, who is sadly missing him now. Late in life, Bill crossed the Mississippi up to four times weekly to walk shelter dogs at the SPCA’s West Bank facility.

He is survived by Sally, his wife of 45 years, his daughter Elena Reeves Walker (Russ), his son Richard A. Reeves (Nicole) of Tallahassee, Florida, his sister Judy and brother Michael (Georgia), Corinne Evans Judd (Rick), Hugh McCloskey Evans, III (Sarah Labouisse), of New Orleans; Mark McCloskey Evans (Anne Coady) of St. Louis; Charles Kittredge Evans, and Colleen Evans Lusignan (Greg) of New Orleans; and grandchildren, Isabella and Analise Walker, Lyle Reeves; Eleonore, Alexander, Sidonie and Mignon Evans of New Orleans; Emily, Andrew, Mary, and Sean Evans of St. Louis; Isabelle, Olivia, Lily and Tyler Lusignan of New Orleans; and Ashley Judd of Baton Rouge.

The family would like to thank the medical teams at Ochsner Baptist and Ochsner Foundation Hospitals, particularly Palliative Care physician Dr. Sarah Lee, whose kindness, leadership, and professionalism remain unmatched.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at Holy Name of Jesus Church on Friday, February 14, at 12:30 p.m., with Visitation beginning at 11:00 a.m., followed by a reception at home. Interment at Metairie Cemetery will be private.