Rebecca Reed

Rebecca Ann Reed, 51, of Itasca, Ill., passed away at Lutheran General Hospital in Parkridge, Ill., on Sunday, Nov. 7, 2021.

She was born on Aug. 11, 1970, in Morgantown, W.Va., to Russell Alvin Reed and Katherine Axe Reed.

Becky graduated from Wilson High School in West Lawn, Pa. She took regular classes in history and English.

Her sister, Beth Dulin, shared the following: “Becky was amazing, she used to help our mother out in the chem lab at Penn State Berk's campus. She would dilute the strong acids all by herself. This can be dangerous as she diluted not just HCL but also H2SO4. She was amazing. She came to our lab as well, and here she would put my Eppendorf Tubes in a rack and she would centrifuge them. She had her own desk and bench in the lab.

She knew all the presidents, what dates they were president and where they were born. She also knew what they did after they left office. She also knew all her states and capitals, and bits about every state and capital.

She knew all about the Revolutionary War and the Civil War. She loved to go to the Old North Bridge in Concord and to the museum. She loved living in Boston.

She raised my children. Nikita said she was the best babysitter; she would make up games and they would play all day.

When I was doing clinical trials on one of my projects, I would have to leave at 2 a.m. and she would wake up and stay awake until I came home to make sure nothing happened to the kids.

In Chicago she was there when the kids came home from school, and she had snacks for them. She cleaned the house and did the laundry.

She loved Topgolf, Applebee's, Buono Beef, Red Lobster. She loved going to church (Fourth Presbyterian Church on Michigan Ave in Chicago). Then we would go to the Art Institute for Shirley Temple. Then we would go to Whole Foods and have picnic lunch if the weather was nice at Promatory Point on the lake in Hyde Park.

She loved her days out with NEDSTRA, and she loved Walcamp. She dreamed of having a farm and raising milking shorthorn. She was just the most loving and amazing person in the world. She never had an unkind word to say of anyone.”

Survivors include her sister, Eleanor Beth; and Beth's husband, Nickolai Dulin, of Itasca, Ill.; nephews, John Russell Dulin, Daniel James Reese and Nikita N. Dulin; and niece, Katharine Ashley Dulin.

Becky was preceded in death by her parents.

Reed — The family of Rebecca Ann Reed, who died Sunday, Nov. 7, 2021, will gather privately Monday at Smith Funeral Home, 421 New Castle St., Slippery Rock, before traveling to Slippery Rock Cemetery for a private graveside committal.