Alumnus of the year 2016
Reuben moved to Orland from Missouri in 1943 as a sophomore. He was awarded the Kiwanis Cup as top vocational student both his sophomore and senior years and Heald’s College Commercial Award his senior year. He served as president of his freshman and junior classes and treasurer of the student body his junior year. After graduating from OHS, Reuben moved to Chicago to attend Gregg College of Court Reporting. He moved back to Orland and worked for the Glenn County Road Department then moved to Sacramento and Oakland to work on the Southern Pacific Railroad. He was drafted in 1950 and discharged two years later. He returned to Oakland and went to work for Sea-Land Service, a combination ship and truck service that ships large containers. He worked at Sea-Land until he retired in 1990 as Director of Administration.
Reuben moved back to Orland where he and his wife, Patricia, volunteered for Enloe Hospice. He developed his hobby in stained glass into a small business and has donated dozens of art works to schools, churches, the Orland Volunteer Fire Department, the high school band, and other fundraisers in the Orland area. He provided the idea for the Arch in Library Park and has raised thousands of dollars in scholarship money for the Orland Alumni Association. He was awarded Orland’s Citizen of the Year in 2016.
Reuben remains connected with his class and wrote a 250 page book outlining each classmate and how they spent their first 50 years after graduation. One special highlight of his life is the time he spent in the U.S. Army and his work with the Atomic Energy Commission, Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory with the detonation of the first Hydrogen bomb: OPERATION GREENHOUSE.