Doctor, library founder dies at 84

JAMES REIFERT

Longtime small-town doctor James Reifert, one of Cottonwood's most prominent and beloved citizens, died Thursday at home.

He was 84.

"He touched a lot of lives down here in Cottonwood and helped a lot of people," said Renee Ashe, a Cottonwood resident since 1976 and former Cottonwood Community Library board president.

Rarely seen without his little brown doctor's bag, Reifert opened his practice in 1962 and long served as Cottonwood's only physician. In a 1987 interview, Reifert said he took great pride in making house calls.

Along with his wife, Mary, he founded the Cottonwood Community Library, which opened in August 2007.

Mary Reifert died Aug. 16 at age 79.

"We are so thankful that they lived long enough to see (the library) completed," said Ashe, 60. "There's so much over the years that makes me so thankful that they were a part of my family's lives."

The new library was inspired by a donation by the doctor and his wife.

When Reifert, a voracious reader and Cottonwood's first honorary mayor, retired in 1996, the Chamber of Commerce and grateful townspeople threw him a party with guests tacking their good wishes - $2,800 worth - onto a money tree.

But instead of using the money for a trip, the couple gave it to the library along with a prime piece of Main Street property - estimated then to be worth $100,000 - as a home for the town's new library.

Countless fundraisers followed until what was once a dream became a 3,000-square-foot library on Main Street between Second and Third streets.

The groundbreaking for the library was an especially sweet day for "Doc" and Mary Reifert because it fell on their 54th wedding anniversary.

Reifert, born in St. Paul, Minn., and reared in Hartington, Neb., joined the U.S. Marine Corps in 1942 and participated in the invasion of Okinawa.

After the Japanese surrender in 1945, his division was sent to Tientsin in northern China to repatriate Japanese troops.

Reifert later studied at Creighton University in Nebraska, married in 1951 and interned at U.S. Navy bases in Chelsea, Mass., and Santa Barbara.

The Reiferts first settled in Red Bluff before moving to Cottonwood.

Long active in a variety of civic organizations and projects, in 1979 Reifert was named "Physician of the Year" by the Shasta-Trinity Medical Assistants Association.

Reifert also served several terms on the Cottonwood Union School District Board of Trustees and was a member of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Anderson.

He is survived by his children, Aileen Gustafson of Redding; James Reifert of Sherwood, Ore.; Louise McLendon of Crockett; Charles Reifert of Cottonwood; Dennis Reifert of Vallejo; Thomas Reifert of Algona, Wash.; Fred Reifert of Lynnwood, Wash.; Marie Cain of Redmond, Ore.; and Mary Cheek of Puyallup, Wash., in addition to 17 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Services at 11 a.m. Thursday at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Anderson. Burial in Cottonwood.