CMT War Hero and Diplomat also served County

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CMT War Hero and Diplomat also served County

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Albert Field Reynolds, former director of the Santa Barbara County

Department of Environmental Resources and a World War II dive-bomber

who later served as an overseas diplomat, has died. He was 84. Mr.

Reynolds died Jan. 4 at his home in Murrieta following a stroke. For

seven years, he suffered from the rare Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease.

Also known as hereditary motor and sensory neuropathy or peroneal

muscular atrophy, the disease is an inherited nerve disorder

characterized by the loss of muscle tissue and touch sensation,

predominantly in the feet and legs. " He could use a walker, but then

it was getting so he was wheelchair-bound, " said Ruth Reynolds, his

wife of 60 years.

" He was a very kind, gentle man. He always wanted to serve his

country. He was a great man, and he loved his county, and he loved

the environment. " The couple formerly resided at the Alisal Guest

Ranch in Solvang. Mr. Reynolds worked for the county for most of the

1970s. Functions of the Environmental Resources Department that he

oversaw have since shifted to other divisions, and the department no

longer exists under that name.

" Al Reynolds was a fantastic boss, " said Al McCurdy, deputy director

of environmental review under Mr. Reynolds. " He was courageous and

intelligent and really was a perfect person to be chosen to run the

environmental office. He had a great following, a tremendous

following among the environmental people. " Mr. Reynolds left county

government in 1981 after the Board of Supervisors consolidated his

department with the Planning Department. He was made an interim but

not permanent director -- a move decried by community groups at the

time. Mr. Reynolds called the situation a " travesty. " " I learned a

long time ago from Pearl Chase that bureaucrats and politicians

don't mean a damn in this community, " he said in a statement at the

time.

" It is the people who have made Santa Barbara great. It is the

people who must keep it that way. "

Born in Maine in 1921, Mr. Reynolds enjoyed fishing for trout and

exploring forests as a youth, according to his family. He earned a

master's degree in environmental studies from UC Berkeley.

In 1942, Mr. Reynolds joined the Army Air Corps, later serving as a

torpedo dive-bomber in Squadron 2 aboard the USS Hornet. For his

efforts over the Pacific, he was awarded several medals including

the Distinguished Flying Cross, according to his family. After the

war, Mr. Reynolds joined the U.S. Foreign Service, later organizing

rescue operations for U.S. pilots shot down over North Korea. For

this, according to his family, he received a Bronze Star, a rare

commendation for a civilian.

Mr. Reynolds spent 20 years with the Foreign Service as a diplomatic

officer in Japan, Germany and Mexico. Mrs. Reynolds said much of

this work was tied to functions of the Central Intelligence Agency.

After retiring from the county, Mr. Reynolds was president of

Reynolds Associates, a resource-management consulting firm. He also

served as the first president of the Association of Environmental

Professionals, receiving the organization's Lifetime Achievement

Award in 2004.

About " Memorial Day " in the USA this weekend see

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorial_Day