Keith Rhoades (1933-2014)

RHOADES, SMITH, SIMPSON, EUCHER

Posted By: Mark Christian
Date: 10/25/2014 at 15:02:52

Obituary from Corvallis Gazette-Times, Corvallis, Oregon, October 27, 2014.

Sept. 9, 1933 — Oct. 10, 2014

Keith Rhoades was born Sept. 9, 1933, to Ray B. and Gertrude M. (Smith) Rhoades, on a farm near Quinter, Kansas.

Farming was the primary family business, so he lived and worked on farms until he left for college.

He graduated from Quinter’s elementary and high schools, then attended the University of Kansas and Kansas State University. While at KSU, he married E. June Simpson, the love of his life and a student at KSU. They met when both were first-grade students at Quinter, and were in the same 30-person class through elementary school and high school.

June received a Bachelor of Science degree in elementary education in 1954 and taught school at Ogden, Kansas, until Keith graduated in 1958 with B.S. and Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degrees.

After Keith’s graduation they moved to Ames, Iowa, where Keith was on the staff of the Iowa State Veterinary Diagnostic Lab and June taught second grade at Sheldahl, Iowa. In 1961 Keith joined the staff of the National Animal Disease Center, a new facility near Ames.

He did graduate studies at both work locations, and received Master of Science and doctoral degrees. His research involved several infectious agents: studying their role in diseases of animals, their transmission, and the lesions caused, and developing diagnostic tests.

He retired in 1991, and he and June traveled often, visiting friends and relatives and enjoying the United States, especially the West. They also enjoyed time spent in Ames, with son Steve and many close longtime friends and neighbors.

Keith and June made two giant steps in the quality of their lives when sons Bruce and Steve were born in 1964 and 1967. More giant steps were made when Bruce and Ellen Eucher were married in 1988, and granddaughters Sara and Kate were born in 1995 and 1998.

In December of 2012, Keith and June moved from Ames and their home of 50 years to an assisted-living facility in Corvallis, where Bruce, Ellen, Sara and Kate lived, and provided additional and welcomed assistance to their living.

A celebration of life will take place next summer in Ames.