John was born on September 18, 1937, in Gary, IN, to Vance and Madeline Reed. He grew up in IN and was an alumnus of Indiana University, where he majored in Chemistry before entering the Air Force in 1961.

John began his Air Force career at Harlingen, TX. After completing Undergraduate Navigator Training, he was stationed at Plattsburgh AFB, NY, flying KC-97s. He participated in the Cuban Crisis securing planes safely in Greenland. Flying KC-135s, he was stationed at March AFB, CA, traveling to Thailand and Okinawa where he flew in and around Vietnam providing air refueling support for aircraft flying missions over North Vietnam. In 1972, he was stationed at DaNang AB in Vietnam where he flew "Gooney Birds", the EC-47, on reconnaissance missions.

He was stationed at RAF Mildenhall, UK in the 10th ACCS flying EC-135s. Before returning to the states, he was Chief of the Command Post at Mildenhall where they tracked all US flights that took off from every command in Europe. He was the navigator on Standard/Evaluation at each AFB where he was stationed, and he particularly enjoyed supporting and educating new navigators to the squadrons. His navigational skills were unprecedented and praised by generals, pilots, navigators and others which earned him the nickname of "Magellan." He loved statistics and noted how many sorties and air refueling missions he had flown and even how much fuel he had transferred in his career. He retired from the Air Force in 1989 after serving in the 4th ACCS at Ellsworth AFB, SD.

Retired Lt. Colonel John Morgan Reed passed away on January 28, 2018, at the age of 80.

Described as "quietly proud," John will be lovingly remembered by his wife of 51 years, Biff; his daughter, Shawn; his son-in-law, Steve; his sisters, Janet and Sandy; his grandchildren, McKenzie and Will; and countless caring family and friends.

A memorial service will be held at Black Hills National Cemetery at 11 a.m. on Friday, April 20, 2018. Military honors will be by the Ellsworth Air Force Base Honor Guard.