RHOADES, Darwin "Dusty" 1920-2000
RHOADES, SWARD, WIRTH
Posted By: County Coordinator
Date: 1/5/2009 at 15:28:11
ST. ANSGAR, IOWA - Darwin "Dusty" Rhoades, 80, of St. Ansgar, passed away peacefully on Friday (Nov. 3, 2000) at the Good Samaritan Center, St. Ansgar, in the company of his wife, Alice.
Funeral services will be held at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday at the First Lutheran Church, St. Ansgar with the Rev. Robert Porisch officiating. Burial will be in St. Ansgar Cemetery.
Visitation will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. Monday at Schroeder and Sites Funeral Home, St. Ansgar. Military honors will be by the Walter T. Enneberg Post No. 358 of the American Legion, St. Ansgar.
Dusty Rhoades was born March 28, 1920, at Council Bluffs, and adopted in infancy by Harry and Anna (Sward) Rhoades of Farnhamville. He was baptized and confirmed in the United Methodist Church of Farnhamville, later confirmed as an adult into the congregation of the First Lutheran Church, St. Ansgar. Dusty graduated from Farnhamville High School and then attended Hemphill Diesel Schools in Chicago. Following graduation, he worked in Milwaukee, Wis. He enlisted in the Navy and was sworn in on Navy Day (Oct. 20, 1942) by Gene Tunney. He attended school at Navy Pier in Chicago and then was sent to the Pacific area.
On a 30-day leave in September 1945, he married the love of his life, Alice Wirth, at the First Lutheran Church in St. Ansgar. He spent the next three years stationed in Tsingtao and Shanghai, China and Hong Kong. He was honorably discharged from the Navy in October 1948 and returned to St. Ansgar where he farmed until his retirement in 1982.
He loves sports, especially baseball and played on the town team, which played on Sunday afternoons against other teams from the local area. He was one of many people involved in the building of Saints Acres ball fields, using scavenged windmills from local farmers to build the light towers. When the bowling alley first came to St. Ansgar, he was among those who helped haul in the lanes. In 1963, facing the loss of the town's bowling alley when the lease ran out, he and his wife Alice built Cedar Lanes in St. Ansgar and ran it until 1970 when they sold it. They are credited with teaching many young people to bowl, instilling in them a lasting love of the sport.
They moved off the farm in 1968 to St. Ansgar. He was active in public service, serving terms on the City Council, School Board and as Deacon and Trustee of the First Lutheran Church. He was a 50-year member of the American Legion, serving in various offices including local, county and district commander and state vice-commander.
Following a cardiac arrest at their summer home in Waterville, Minnesota, he entered the ICU at St. Mary's Hospital, Rochester, Minnesota, where he suffered a stroke in August 1989. He was able to remain at home in the care of Alice, and with the help of Mitchell County Homemaker Service until September 1998, when he and his wife entered the Osage Rehab and Health Care Center. In August 2000 they came to the Good Samaritan Center in St. Ansgar.
He leaves to mourn, his wife of 55 years, Alice and their three children: a son, Duane and wife, Lois of Loves Park, Illinois, a son, Raymond and wife, Palma of Kennesaw, Georgia; and a daughter, Vicki and husband, Steve Ross of Pennington, Minnesota; five grandsons: Duane Rhoades, Jr. and wife, Joann of Rockford, Illinois, Paul Rhoades of Athens, Georgia, Barrett Rhoades of Kennesaw, Georgia, and Forrest and Axel Ross of Pennington, Minnesota.
Memorials may be given to the American Legion Foundation and Lutheran Social Services of Iowa.
Schroeder and Sites Funeral Home, (641) 324-1121.
[Mason City Globe Gazette, Nov. 5, 2000]
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Photo of Alice and Dusty Rhoades, from 1970 directory for First Lutheran Church.
Mitchell Obituaries maintained by Sharyl Ferrall.
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