Orbituary ~ Grace Esme Reynolds

Grace Reynolds, wife of the late Leonard Reynolds and company secretary to Reynolds Coaches of Caister, passed away on 7th February 2016 at the age of 95. She was fully active in the day to day running of the family business up until a month before her death

Caetano Optimo bodied Toyota Coaster BIG8781
thought to have been named after Grace

Grace was a resident of Caister-on-Sea her entire life and after leaving school became a saleswoman and window dresser in a local store. She spent her war years in reserved occupation as a conductress with Eastern Counties Omnibus Company

In 1942 she married Leonard who was then in the RAF and when the war ended they moved to Ormesby Road in the village. He took up the reins of his late father's transport business and began carrying passengers firstly by horse drawn carriages and then in Ford Model T 14 seater charabancs.

A recent addition to the fleet is Volvo AW53GAU

A garage and petrol filling station was subsequently built on an adjoining site before restarting the coach operation. Leonard died in 1996 and passed the business on to his son Charles with Grace continuing her role as the Company Secretary. Charles continues to operate the concern today which became a limited company in 2007

East Norfolk Bus Blog sends its condolences to Grace's family and friends

Roy