Maj. Kevin Joseph Reilly Sr., formerly of Montauk, died on Sept. 13 in San Diego, where he had moved in March. He was 77.
Mr. Reilly served as a maintenance officer in the Air Force before retiring in 1993 and moving to Montauk, where he worked as a Hampton Jitney driver for many years, “mastering the ability to make tight turns in a giant bus on crowded Manhattan streets, while at the same time assuring Manhattanites that they were indeed ‘almost there’ when impatient riders were surprised traffic existed,” his family said.
“He went on to drive a generation or two of Montauk children to the Montauk School, Pathfinder Day Camp, and East Hampton High School in yellow school buses . . . for the McCoy Bus Company.”
He joined the Montauk Fire Department, volunteering as an emergency medical technician and later with the fire police for over 20 years. “He loved riding in the fire trucks during the annual St. Patrick’s Day parade and pancakes at John’s Pancake House with Company 6,” his family said. He was also known to “bend a person’s ear, and you could often find him locked in conversation with strangers. Saying goodbye often took a while and several attempts to assure him you indeed ‘did have to go.’ ”
Mr. Reilly was born on May 28, 1948, in Rockville Centre, the youngest of Francis and Virginia Reilly’s three children. In 1966, he graduated from Westbury High School, where he played on the varsity golf team all four years and “was coincidentally voted ‘best dressed’ in his senior year,” his family said. “Though he continued his love of golf till later in life, his children have no evidence, but several questions about his ‘best dressed’ award.”
In 1967, he enlisted in the Air Force and was stationed in Tacoma, Wash., and at the Da Nang Air Base in Vietnam.
Back home, he used his combat pay to buy a black 1967 Jaguar XKE convertible. “He claimed it was the best and worst purchase ever, as it only had room for golf clubs or a passenger, not both,” his family said.
He met his future wife, Peggy Allen, around the time he opened the Rocking Horse Lounge in Williston Park. They were married on Aug. 2, 1975, and moved to Ponce Inlet, Fla., where he pursued a degree in aviation maintenance from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University on an R.O.T.C. scholarship.
“He talked fondly of homemade river float races with the vets club, an incident in which the newlyweds found themselves locked on the roof of their beachfront condo with only a sheet between them, and spending time on pit road each year for the Daytona 500.”
He was commissioned back into the Air Force as a second lieutenant in 1977, and the couple “began collecting passport stamps and a few children along the way.”
He was stationed in Illinois and then Sacramento, where his first son, Kevin Jr., was born in 1980; then in Montgomery, Ala., where his daughter, Shannon, was born in 1981. Postings followed in Lakenheath, England, Fort Walton Beach, Fla.; the Royal Australian Air Force base in Amberley, Queensland, where his youngest son, Patrick, was born in 1990, and finally at the Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.
He also served on temporary assignments in Panama, Jordan, and during Operation Desert Shield in Saudi Arabia. He was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal and the Air Force Commendation Medal.
Mr. Reilly was a lifelong Mets fan and attended opening days at Shea Stadium and later Citi Field. “Having witnessed the Mets win the World Series twice, Mr. Reilly instilled a sense of hope and humility in his sons, claiming, ‘There’s always next year,’ nearly every year,” his family said. Much to his chagrin, “his daughter became a Yankees fan.”
His wife died of stroke-related complications in 2023, and he then had health complications of his own. He moved to San Diego in his final months to live with his daughter, and there he enjoyed riding around the streets with her in her golf cart and spending time with his granddaughter, Julia. “Though he did complain that he never got enough color from the sun or Jamocha shakes from Arby’s, on his final day, the Mets beat the San Diego Padres 8-3.”
He is survived by his three children, Kevin Reilly Jr. of Astoria, Queens, Shannon Reilly Olson of San Diego, and Patrick Reilly of Bronxville, N.Y., and by three grandchildren, Julia Olson, Roman Reilly, and River Reilly. He also leaves a sister, Dorothy Chance of Poinciana, Fla. Another sister, Patricia, died before him.
Mr. Reilly, like his wife before him, donated his body to science. A celebration of his life will be planned at a future date. His family has suggested contributions to the Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons at arfhamptons.org.
