By Mike Humphries<\/a><\/p>\n H<\/span>ave you ever heard about a person, one whom you did not have the opportunity to meet yourself, that is universally admired by all who met them? I had that very experience three years ago when I took over the reins of\u00a0The Armory Life<\/em>. At that time, I was in Geneseo, Illinois, for a visit to the Springfield Armory facility and learned the sad news of the passing of Robert R. Reese at the age of 87, patriarch of the Reese family of Springfield Armory and an integral part of the company\u2019s founding.<\/p>\n I quickly learned how much I had missed not having the opportunity to meet him for myself. When I say Bob Reese was universally admired, this is no exaggeration. Every person in Geneseo to whom I spoke, from Springfield Armory employees to family members to local citizens who knew I was visiting the company, had the exact same way of describing him. The loss felt in the town was palpable.<\/p>\n In the time since then working for\u00a0The Armory Life<\/em>, I have had the opportunity to learn more about Mr. Reese through my interactions with several of his family members. I have conducted interviews with his son Dennis Reese, CEO and owner of Springfield, as well as his widow, Carol Reese. I also have had the opportunity to talk with Bob\u2019s other two sons, Dave and Tom. In addition, I was able to speak with Colleen Reese, Dave\u2019s wife. In my conversations with all of them, a portrait of the man began to emerge.<\/p>\n \u201cBob was the life of the party,\u201d said Colleen Reese. \u201cYou did miss out by not getting to meet him. I believe that when people think of Bob, they smile.\u201d<\/p>\n In an ideal world, this article would have been an interview with Bob himself, in his own voice and his own words. Since that was not possible, I decided to try to create a tribute to him here, through the words of his family.<\/p>\n \u201cBob was born in Moline, Illinois, on June 26th<\/sup>, 1931,\u201d Carol Reese said during a recent conversation. She explained that he grew up in rural Colona, east of Moline. \u201cHis childhood was just what you would expect growing up in a rural area to a farming family,\u201d she said. Apparently, he spent a lot of his time in the outdoors, hunting and fishing.<\/p>\n It was during his high school years he realized he had a passion for trap shooting. In fact, it was more than just a passing fad for him, with him showing remarkable skill at it. \u201cHe became the North American Junior Trapshooting Champion at the age of 16, breaking 99 of 100 clays in the trap shoot,\u201d Mrs. Reese proudly told me.<\/p>\n As I mused on what Mrs. Reese had said, I realized it was obvious early on that firearms would play a role in the life of Bob Reese \u2014 but to what extent was not fully apparent at that point in his life. In fact, there would be several twists and turns in his life and career before he would help lay the foundation for the Springfield Armory we know today.<\/p>\n Upon his graduation from high school, Bob set out to find a career. Mrs. Reese told me that he sold Culligan water conditioners for a time, but that he figured out this was not something to which he wanted to dedicate his life. But while Bob had not yet at this point found the career of his life, he did find the love of it. I discovered this when I asked Mrs. Reese about how she first met Bob.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, one day I was at a gas station in Geneseo after my summer job detasseling corn, and Bob saw me and apparently thought I was cute. When I pulled out of the station, he decided he was going to try to ask me out. So, he followed me until I stopped, which was at my home,\u201d she told me.<\/p>\n Her whole family \u2014 which was a large one, with her having five siblings \u2014 boiled out of the farmhouse when they saw two cars pull up. \u201cBob had the gumption to walk up, in front of all these people, and ask me my name. Then, he asked me on a date,\u201d she told me.<\/p>\n Bob and Carol quickly hit it off, and they got married 10 days after she graduated high school on June 25th<\/sup>, 1952. Around that time, Bob had been activated as a member of the National Guard \u2014 which he had joined during high school \u2014 and was stationed in California. He came home on the troop train so they could get married. The day after, they both headed back to California.<\/p>\n While from our perspective Bob Reese\u2019s life is inextricably tied to firearms and Springfield Armory, that path was not clear in his earlier years. As a young, newly married husband, Bob spent a few years searching for exactly what he wanted to do for a career. In addition to having sold water conditioners earlier, he also tried his hand at being a car salesman, selling Purina feeds and even trucking eggs to Chicago. However, he never truly enjoyed any of these jobs, according to Mrs. Reese.<\/p>\n Around this time, Bob and Carol would have their first child, Dennis, who was born just a few years after they were married. At this same time, the family moved back to Colona to help Bob\u2019s father out with his farm. \u201cHe worked very hard at this,\u201d Mrs. Reese told me. \u201cWe were growing corn and beans, and the farm had hogs and cattle. He was always so busy, fencing and farming.\u201d<\/p>\n Mrs. Reese went on to explain that despite all of his hard work on the farm, there was simply very little profit in that type of work. And with a growing family to support, he knew he needed to figure out a different career path. At first, he began selling farm equipment. But soon, he would come up with a new means of revenue that would chart the path for the future of the Reese family.<\/p>\n Not far from Colona was the U.S. Army\u2019s Rock Island Arsenal, which turned out to be an amazing resource for Bob\u2019s next career turn \u2014 and one that would solidify a career path related to the world of firearms.<\/p>\n In addition to speaking to Mrs. Reese, I also had a chance to speak with Dennis Reese about this part of his father\u2019s life for some added insight.<\/p>\n Live The Armory Life.<\/strong> The latest content straight to your inbox plus an automatic entry to each of our monthly gun\u00a0giveaways!<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n \u201cMy father would buy demilitarized surplus firearms as scrap iron from the Rock Island Arsenal that had been torch cut. Those demilitarized guns still had valuable parts that could be removed and sold to surplus dealers and manufacturers. There were BARs<\/a>, M1 and M2 Carbines, M1 Garands, Thompson submachine guns, 1911 pistols, 1903 Springfields<\/a>, and more,\u201d he told me.<\/p>\n \u201cAll of these guns were in large piles in the corn crib and other farm buildings on our farm. Tens of thousands of new and used U.S. government surplus firearms that had been torch cut and sold as scrap iron,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n This project quickly became a family effort. By this time, Dennis had two more siblings, his younger brother Dave, and his youngest sibling, Tom. \u201cBeginning when I was about nine years old, Dave was six and Tom was five, we would all help Dad get the usable parts out of the demilitarized guns. There was no shortage of work to do on our farm after school!\u201d, he told me.<\/p>\n This work proved to be very successful, with a great deal of demand for these firearms parts. In fact, it grew to the point where Bob was able to open Reese Surplus, Inc., a surplus store in Geneseo, Illinois. As the business grew, he developed connections with dealers and firearms manufacturers around the country \u2014 one of which would prove to be extremely fortuitous for his family\u2019s future.<\/p>\n One of the companies with which Bob worked was down in San Antonio, Texas, and it owed him money for surplus parts it had purchased from him. Bob asked his son Dennis, who was 19 years old at this point, if he wanted to drive down there with him to see about negotiating a trade of product for the debt owed.<\/p>\n Once Bob and Dennis arrived, they quickly realized the potential of the business was far greater than the parts they were discussing, or even the debt they were owed.<\/p>\n \u201cI remember my father calling my mother and telling her that he thought this business had some exciting potential. \u2018Are you comfortable with us going bigger into this?\u2019, I heard him ask her,\u201d Dennis explained to me. \u201cSoon, my father and I were discussing what it would take to purchase the company itself \u2014 the company that would become Springfield Armory here in Geneseo.\u201d<\/p>\n That decision required a huge leap of faith for Bob and his family, as he and Carol had to mortgage the family farm to finance the purchase. \u201cMy parents risked everything on their 19-year-old son and his younger brothers in this new venture called Springfield Armory\u201d, Dennis explained.<\/p>\n With the founding of the Geneseo-based Springfield Armory, the roots of Bob Reese\u2019s legacy were now firmly established. The company would go on to offer historically significant firearms such as the M1A (a semi-auto rifle inspired by the U.S. Military M14<\/a>), M1 Garands<\/a>, 1911 pistols and much more. And Bob would continue to be a part of the company\u2019s growth for many years.<\/p>\n \u201cDad let us do the work the way we thought was the best way, as long as we followed some guidance he gave us,\u201d said Tom Reese to me during a recent conversation. \u201cAnd one of those rules I remember most was, \u2018Always remember that the name Springfield Armory holds a special place in our customer\u2019s hearts, and always be proud of it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n In fact, Bob would play a significant part in the development of Springfield Armory\u2019s earliest offerings. \u201cDad was constantly working on some project. It seemed like he was always tinkering on something that nobody else had thought of doing,\u201d explained Dennis to me in our conversation.<\/p>\n When speaking with Dave Reese\u2019s wife, Colleen, she told me about one particular story she remembered about Bob. \u201cHe went on a trip to Beretta in Italy in September of 1977 and got a tour of the plant,\u201d she told me. \u201cHe kept asking Beretta management about the Beretta M1 Garand, and everyone said they never sold or made an M1 Garand or that they didn\u2019t have any.\u201d<\/p>\n She told me that Bob knew they had made M1 Garands and kept persisting in asking. \u201cHe finally was able to speak with an old gentleman who took him into the depths of the Beretta plant and showed him at least 100 Beretta M1 Garands,\u201d she said.<\/p>\nWinding Paths<\/h2>\n
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\n<\/picture>![\"bob](\"https:\/\/www.thearmorylife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/bob-reese-with-shotgun.jpg.webp)
\n<\/picture>A New Direction<\/h2>\n
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\n<\/picture>The Foundation<\/h2>\n
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