Harold Reid, NWFA Founding Father, Dies at 95

Source: Hardwood Floors Magazine

John Harold Reid, who helped establish the National Wood Flooring Association in December 1985 and led installation firm Trinity Floor Company (Dallas) as owner and president, passed away Feb. 5 after experiencing a stroke; he was 95.

"The wood flooring industry lost a giant today," said Fortane Adhesives' John Mayers. "Mr. Reid taught me to respect and appreciate the beauty of a wood floor, and I learned to respect him even more. Having known him all my adult life, there will be other great people in the wood flooring industry, but there will never be another 'Mr. Reid.'"

The NWFA was officially created during this meeting in St. Louis in December 1985. Seen are (seated left to right): Jack Wilcox, H.G. Roane Company; Ralph Singer, Diamond 'W' Supply; Lon Musolf, Lon Musolf Flooring; Roland Holder, Gentry & Holder Floors; Harold Reid, Trinity Floor Company; (standing, left to right): Gary Reynolds, Galleher Hardwoods; Steve Brown, Swift-Brown Distributors; Art Pedicini, Geysir Sales Corporation; Jack Coates, Golden State Flooring; Richard Steeneck, Hoboken Wood Floors; Virgil Hendricks, Mid-West Floor Company; Eldon Robbins, Mid-West Floor Company; and Keijo Hyvonen, Kelly-Goodwin Company.

Reid was actively involved in multiple flooring associations. For many years, Reid was a fixture at the NOFMA/NWFA Installation School in Memphis, Tenn. He was a one of the original group who met to form the NWFA and became a charter NWFA member. For a long time, he was the longest-standing associate member of the Maple Flooring Manufacturers Association (MFMA). In 1986 Reid founded the North Texas Flooring Association, and he also served as president of the Dallas Floor Covering Association. All of Reid's hard work over the years resulted in his being inducted into the NWFA Hall of Fame along with other founding fathers in 1994, as well as being inducted to the MFMA Hall of Fame in 2004.

Trinity Hardwood Dist. Inc.'s Bill Matney, a long-time friend of Reid's, recalls that Reid was the prototypical hard worker. "When Harold started, they didn't have those pneumatic nailers, much less the automatic nailers. They used cut nails," Matney said. "To prove yourself as a good mechanic, you had to drive the nail in one swing. Those guys back then could lay every bit as many square feet as the guys today with all these pneumatic nailers. That is the kind of guy he was. He really worked hard."

Reid was born Sept. 23, 1916, and later raised in Martin's Mill, Texas. He started at Trinity Floor Company in 1937 as an installer, earning 45 cents an hour. Reid enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1942 and served until discharged in 1945, serving during the height of World War II.