Born: April 2, 1920, Atlantic, Iowa.
Died: March 28, 2009, Nashville, Tennessee.
Buried: Mount Olivet Cemetery, Nashville, Tennessee.
Pseudonym: John Drakestone (per U.S. Catalog of Copyright Entries: Third series, Volume 13, Part 3, Number 1, Music, January-June 1959, p. 84)
William was the son of George Washington Reynolds and Ethel Horn, and nephew of Isham E. Reynolds.
He was educated at Oklahoma Baptist University, Shawnee, Oklahoma; Southwest Missouri State College (now Missouri State University), Springfield, Missouri (AB 1942); Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas (MSM 1945); North Texas State College (now University of North Texas), Denton, Texas (MM 1946); Westminster Choir College, Princeton, New Jersey; and the George Peabody College for Teachers (now part of Vanderbilt University), Nashville, Tennessee (EdD 1961).
While a student, he was a part time church music director for seven years, then served as minister of music at the First Baptist Church, Ardmore, Oklahoma (1946–47); and the First Baptist Church, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (1947–55).
In 1955, he joined the Church Music Department of the Baptist Sunday School Board in Nashville, Tennessee, rising to department head in 1971.
He also served as music director for meetings of the Southern Baptist Convention, the Baptist World Alliance, and the Baptist Youth World Conference. He composed and arranged a variety of sacred music.