Reginald Melvin Washington was born on August 16, 1927, one of nine children to Percy and Laura Lewis Washington. He departed this life on April 10, 2007 in Alexandria, Virginia.
A member of the class of 1944 he graduated from Dunbar Senior High School, he received a Bachelor's degree from Miner Teacher's College and a Masters in Education from Howard University.
He was proud to serve as a member of the United States Army from 1944 until 1947.
Reginald was both a teacher and an administrator in the District of Columbia Public School System, as a guidance counselor for the South Country School District in Long Island, New York, President of the Bellport Teachers Association, Director for the National Education Association and as Polemarch for the Brooklyn/Long Island Chapter of the Kappa Alpha Psi.
Not one to remain sedentary, he came out of retirement and worked for several years as a guidance counselor for the Osceola Public Schools in Florida until declining health forced him to finally end his thirty-seven year educational career. Always believing in the power of education he established a program to enable students at risk to further their education. He was one of the first black faculty members to teach at Taft Junior High School in Washington, DC after desegregation.
He is survived by his wife of sixty-one years, Lorraine Brown Washington; two sons, Reginald M. Washington, Jr. and Glenn Washington; three daughters, Florence E. Poynter, Laura V. Washington and Celeste L. Washington; a brother, Maurice Milton Butler; eight grandchildren, three great-grandchildren, nieces, nephews and many other relatives and friends.
The family will receive friends on Friday, April 20, 2007 from 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM, from 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM and on Saturday, April 21 from 11:00 AM until the service at 12 Noon in the Chapel of the Cedar Hill Funeral Home, 4111 Pennsylvania Avenue, Suitland, Maryland. Interment will be private.