Dr. Reba Wells Grandrud, Historical League member and Arizona Women’s Hall of Fame recipient, passed away in Albuquerque, New Mexico on August 10, 2024 at the age of 92.
Her family has requested we not send cards or flowers; instead, send tributes, words of condolences, memories and more to her email address at rwgrandrud@gmail.com for her family to put together a book of these messages to have at her service.
Reba’s funeral and Memorial Service are pending until the fall. Our condolences to Reba’s family, friends, colleagues, and everyone who knew her.
Reba earned an undergraduate degree in Education and graduate degrees in SW History and History of the American West from the Univ. of New Mexico in Albuquerque and moved to Arizona in 1982. For over 35-plus years, Reba has been involved in historical research, writing and publishing, and served on a variety of boards and historical societies all over Arizona. Her good-natured character and wonderful smile were contagious and everlasting. Reba could hardly wait to capture the history of Arizona before the West disappeared and to write about it, talk about it, go out and dig-her-heels-in-the-dirt about it---and bring you into her work in some way, too. She was no stranger to the research and archival reading rooms and reference sections of our state’s historical societies , libraries, archives, and museums. Reba came to know the archivists, librarians, volunteers, and students she met in the course of her research and writing. She easily became their friend—and she engaged you in the sharing of your love of Arizona history with her too. Reba was the Sharlot Hall Award Recipient, 2013. And a part of the Arizona Historical Society Museum/Tucson volunteer team that produced the John and Viola Slaughter Family Exhibit in September 2018. Reba served as director of the Arizona Historical Society Museum in Papago Park, as well as Heritage Fund Planner and Coordinator of the National Register of Historic Places for Arizona with the State Historic Preservation Office. In addition, she served as a member and past president of Westerners International, past Sheriff of the Scottsdale Corral, and a speaker for the Arizona Humanities Road Scholar program. Reba’s Funeral and/or Memorial services are pending. Our condolences to Reba’s family, friends, colleagues, neighbors and all who knew her.
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| Reba Wells Grandrud with Historymakers Polly Rosenbaum and Rose Mofford |
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