Max A. Reeder (1926–2009) and the South Bend Police Department

Research compiled 2026-10-25 for Joel Cochran's family tree. Free public sources only. Question put by Joel: Max Reeder, husband of Joel's great-aunt Betty Jane (Cochran) Reeder, is the family's South Bend Police Department link — "big in the police department in South Bend." This file tests that against the records.

VERDICT: CONFIRMED (police career and rank); "big" partly documented

• Max A. Reeder was a South Bend police officer, and by May 1971 he held the rank of Sergeant — proven by his own signature on an official City of South Bend document (see §2). That is a primary-source, contemporaneous city record, not a family retelling.
• What is not yet documented online: his hire date, his retirement date/year, his assignments (patrol/detective/traffic), and any commendations or notable cases. The "big in the department" part of the family story is consistent with reaching Sergeant and with his father and brother also holding city public-safety jobs (see §5), but the full service record still sits in two offline places: the full text of his May 25, 2009 South Bend Tribune obituary (p. B4) and SBPD / Board of Public Safety personnel records.

1. Verified identity facts

• Max A. Reeder, b. February 21, 1926, d. May 24, 2009, last residence South Bend, IN; Social Security card issued in Indiana. Source: U.S. Social Security Death Index record (Fold3 index page): https://www.fold3.com/record/93650198/max-a-reeder-us-social-security-death-index
• Burial: St. Joseph Valley Memorial Park, 375 W. Cleveland Road, Granger, IN; U.S. Navy, World War II. Source: VA-derived "Veterans Buried in Indiana Cemeteries" list, Interment.net: https://www.interment.net/united-states/indiana/veterans-burials/records.php?sort=za&page=296
• Marriage: June 1, 1947, in South Bend, to Betty Jane Cochran; she was preceded in death by Max on May 24, 2009. Source: Betty's Palmer Funeral Homes obituary: https://www.palmerfuneralhomes.com/obituary/Betty-Reeder/services
• Children (per Betty's obituary, same source): daughter Leora I. (Robert Johnson) Reeder of Lafayette, IN; sons Thomas A. (Judith A.) Reeder of Richmond, KY, and James B. (Kim) Reeder of Rome City, IN.
• Parents and brother: Max was a son of Alvin and Tressie Reeder of South Bend, and brother of Harley Delos Reeder (1928–2026). Source: Harley's obituary (Legacy.com / McGann Hay), which states he "was preceded in death by his parents and his brother, Max Reeder": https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/name/harley-reeder-obituary?id=60995103

2. The police proof: Sergeant, South Bend PD, May 1971

City of South Bend Common Council, Special Meeting minutes, May 25, 1971 (City of South Bend Laserfiche archive). Page 2 carries the return of service for the meeting notice, signed:

"/s/ Sgt. Max A. Reeder — Member of the South Bend Police Department"

He had personally served the special-meeting call on the councilmen on May 10–11, 1971, including leaving a certified copy at Councilman Szymkowiak's home (719 N. Johnson St., 5:30 P.M., 5/11/71). Serving council notices was an official duty the ordinance directed to "the Chief of Police or any member of the Police Force," and Max performed and signed for it as a Sergeant.

Source (read in full 2026-10-25): http://docs.southbendin.gov/WebLink/0/doc/41704/Page2.aspx

What this proves and what it does not:

• Proves: SBPD membership and the rank of Sergeant as of May 1971, when Max was 45 — i.e., a mid-career supervisory rank, reached after (by normal SBPD progression) years of patrol service. Officers were typically hired in their 20s; a 1947 marriage right after Navy service makes a late-1940s/1950s hire plausible, but no hire-date document was found, so that stays an inference, labeled as such.
• Does not prove: hire date, retirement date, division/assignment, or any rank above Sergeant. No source found online names him as detective, lieutenant, or captain, and none should be claimed.

3. His obituary: what was found

• SJCPL Obituary Index (St. Joseph County Public Library, searched directly 2026-10-25): one record — Reeder, Max A., South Bend, IN; age 83; date of death 05/24/2009; South Bend Tribune, 05/25/2009, Obituary, p. B4. Record: https://www2.sjcpl.org/db/obits/recorddetail/rec/480039 The index entry carries no occupation line and an empty military-branch field, so the career details, if stated, are in the Tribune text itself, which is not freely readable online.
• Palmer Funeral Homes: no obituary page for Max exists on Palmer's site (site search returned Betty's and other Reeders only). Either his 2009 arrangements were handled elsewhere or the page did not survive Palmer's site migrations. Betty's 2011 funeral was Palmer (Hickey Chapel).
• Legacy.com / Tribune online: no Legacy posting for Max A. Reeder of South Bend (1926–2009) was found; searches surfaced only other Max Reeders (Oklahoma 1930–2009, Ohio 2020, etc.). Retired-officer obituaries usually state rank and years of service, so the May 25, 2009 Tribune p. B4 text remains the single highest-value unread document in this line.

4. Navy service

• Confirmed only at the level of: U.S. Navy, World War II (VA veterans burial list, §1). Born Feb 1926, he turned 18 in Feb 1944, so wartime enlistment at 18 fits.
• Not found in free sources: enlistment date/place, rating, ship or unit, or discharge date. Navy muster rolls (Fold3/Ancestry/NARA Catalog) are the route, but no free index snippet naming him surfaced. Nothing beyond "U.S. Navy, WWII" should be claimed.

5. A public-service family (context that fits the family story)

• Father — Alvin Reeder: Manager/Superintendent of the City of South Bend Parking Meter Department through the 1960s; council minutes show him testifying on meter ordinances and budgets in 1968–1969, and he said in April 1969 he had become superintendent five years earlier (c. 1964). Sources: http://docs.southbendin.gov/WebLink/0/doc/41580/Page2.aspx (Apr 28, 1969); http://docs.southbendin.gov/WebLink/0/doc/41602/Page2.aspx (Sep 22, 1969); http://docs.southbendin.gov/WebLink/0/doc/41566/Page3.aspx (Jan 13, 1969).
• Brother — Harley Delos Reeder: South Bend Fire Department for 21 years, retiring 1973 (Legacy obituary, §1).
• So all three Reeder men of that house — father, and both sons — worked for the City of South Bend in public safety / city services in the same era. Max's police career is not an isolated family legend; it sits in a documented city-service household.
• Caution, do not merge: 1920s Board of Public Safety minutes name a board member "Earl Reeder" — a different, older man (Max was born in 1926). Not Max, and no relation is proven.

6. Census / directory occupation: NOT FOUND (explicit)

• The 1950 census entry for Max and Betty Reeder in South Bend could not be retrieved through free routes: search engines carry no indexed snippet for him, and the National Archives' 1950 site name-search API would not answer scripted queries. His 1950 occupation line (which would independently confirm or date the start of the police career — the census was taken April 1950, three years after the wedding) is still an open pull via a FamilySearch/Ancestry 1950 index session or NARA enumeration-district browsing once an address is pinned.
• A people-search aggregator (weak source, not a record) associates a Max Reeder born Feb 1926 with 314 N. Sunnyside Ave., South Bend, IN 46617 — treat as a lead for directory/census work only, not as a verified address.
• No digitized South Bend city directory listing for Max Reeder was found online.

7. Also searched, nothing found

• SBPD official site (history / fallen officers pages — he is not a line-of-duty death, so absence there is expected), Fraternal Order of Police South Bend lodge pages/newsletters, and general web for "Max Reeder" + detective / lieutenant / captain / commendations / notable cases: no corroborating hit. The only contemporaneous police document naming him anywhere online is the 1971 council minutes in §2.

8. What would settle the remaining questions

1. Full text of the South Bend Tribune obituary, May 25, 2009, p. B4 (SJCPL Local & Family History holds the paper; Joel previously decided to skip paid library requests — this needs his re-approval or an in-person pull). Expected to state rank at retirement, years of service, and funeral home.
2. SBPD / Board of Public Safety personnel minutes (City Laserfiche archive and SBPD records): appointment, promotion to Sergeant, and retirement entries are board actions and would give exact career dates.
3. 1950 census (FamilySearch free account or NARA ED browse): his stated occupation in April 1950.
4. Navy muster rolls (Fold3/NARA): ship, rating, enlistment and discharge.