LEOMINSTER — The father of Marine Capt. Ross Reynolds’ widow set up a GoFundMe page with the goal of raising $400,000. That’s the amount his daughter, Lana Reynolds, would have received if Reynolds had named her as the beneficiary of his Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance policy.
“Lana was not designated as the recipient of SGLI (nor the death gratuity provided by the military). Talking to other friends, we are confident Ross intended to make his wife the SGLI recipient, but there was not enough time between their marriage and his deployment to Norway to designate her as such,” wrote Tom Wando, Lana’s father, on the GoFundMe page. “SGLI and Death Gratuity are lump-sum payments intended to help assist beneficiaries with immediate living expenses.”
Lana and Reynolds were married February 9, just four days before Reynolds was deployed to Norway. He and three other Marines were killed on March 18 when their Osprey aircraft crashed in a Norwegian town in the Arctic Circle.
The GoFundMe page Wando started is named “Grassroots SGLI for Captain Ross ‘ALF’ Reynolds.” It has raised $10,617 since the page was created seven days ago.
Wando said the GoFundMe is meant to help his daughter deal with the loss of her husband as well as various debts.
“This fund will act as an SGLI for Lana and is meant to cover their debt and offer Lana the ability to deal with this loss without the burden of house, car, and school loans in addition to other debt,” said Wando.
Another GoFundMe page called “Support for Wife of Capt. Ross A. Reynolds” has been organized on Lana’s behalf by Hannah Landry. The page has raised $12,579 so far.