Many Mourn Passing of the 'Patriarch of Reilly Lane'

Albert W. "Sonny" Reilly, who died Feb. 17 at the age of 67, was an unpretentious man who lived his life to the fullest and loved his family with all his heart--and from the moving tributes paid to him at his large funeral Tuesday, it was clear that he was equally adored by the many people whose lives he touched.

More than 100 family members and friends of the late Lower Saucon Township resident and business owner gathered to celebrate his life at Heintzelman Funeral Home in Hellertown, where a service of remembrance was presided over by Rev. Lisa K. Borrell of Christ Lutheran Church of Lower Saucon.

Borrell noted that Reilly, who owned Reilly's Saw Mill, lived off Mockingbird Hill Road just a short distance from the church, on a small dead-end road that's named for him.

Calling him a good neighbor to the congregation and many others in the area, she also referred to the well-known smoker of cigars as "the patriarch of Reilly Lane--his own little kingdom" that was filled with dogs, horses and his beloved family, including his wife of 44 years, Janet.

"There was not a thing he would not do for them," Borrell said.

She noted that Reilly's daily routine including stoking the wood fires in his family's homes, picking up their mail, and picking up his granddaughter, to whom he was known as "Pappy," from school.

In addition to his granddaughter Kelly Ann and his wife, Reilly is surived by a grandson, Kevin; two stepgrandaughters, Alexis and Emalee, and his daughters Carol and Heather, and son-in-law James Connell, all of Lower Saucon Township.

Kevin Reilly-Rice, who spoke after Borrell invited attendees to share their memories of his grandfather, recalled that he would often wake him early in the morning and say, "We gotta go cut wood."

"I learned so much from him--more than any textbook could ever teach me," Reilly-Rice said.

Reilly's daughter, Heather, also spoke of her father's strong work ethic and the family values he taught her.

"You are my hero," she said, after tearfully reading from a card that she said she sent him last year on her birthday.

Reilly's friend of more than 30 years, Tim Deemer, delivered an emotional eulogy, in which he noted that the two of them had "shared so many good times together" and had a friendship that "just continued to grow."

"Albert was a typical old-school type person," he said of his friend. "No computer for him."

"We laughed together and we cried together, especially when a song called 'Old Shep' played on the radio," he added. "He was a true friend...and one that we will always cherish."

Borrell also highlighted the friendships that Reilly had forged with many in the community--including with staff at the Hellertown Diner, where he was a "regular," she said. 

Many of his neighbors knew him for his kindness, which he demonstrated by helping them to plow their fields in the summer and removing snow for them in the winter, she added.

That kindness and love came back to him "10-fold," Borrell said, when he lay near death in St. Luke's Hospital, surrounded by loved ones.

In all her years of ministering to others, Borrell said she had never seen so many people rally so strongly for someone struggling to live.

And although Sonny Reilly ultimately succumbed, she said he died "surrounded by those whom he cherished," and she reminded them that "absolutely nothing can separate us from the love of our creator."

"Many good deeds, many adventures were packed into (his) 67 years," she said.

Following the service at the funeral home, Reilly's casket was taken by horse-drawn hearse to the cemetery at Christ Lutheran Church, where cigar-puffing pallbearers carried it to his resting place in the shadow of the hill he called home.