William Lester RHODES

RHODES, GLAMM, ROTTINK, JOHNSON, RYAN, GILLARD, HUGHES, WALKER, PAULSON, BECKETT, WEHMEYER

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 11/27/2008 at 11:35:44

KASSON, MN -- The funeral for William Lester Rhodes will be at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 2, at Grace Lutheran Church in Dodge Center, with the Rev. Robert Lentz officiating. Burial will be in Pine Island Cemetery; military graveside services will be conducted by the Kasson American Legion/Mantorville VFW. Mr. Rhodes, 93, of Kasson, died Monday (Nov. 24, 2008) at Fairview Seminary Home in Red Wing, of pneumonia and congestive heart failure due to Alzheimer's disease.

William Lester Rhodes was born Nov. 2, 1915, in Dows, Iowa. The oldest of 11 siblings, he started elementary school in Iowa Falls before his family moved to Spring Brook, Wis., then to West Concord in 1929. He graduated eighth grade at Emerson School, Dodge County. He married Vera Louise Glamm on June 27, 1938, at Saint Paul Lutheran Church in Pine Island. They worked for several farmers in the Pine Island, Concord, and West Concord area until Mr. Rhodes joined the Army. He served stateside from May 1945 to June 1946, then joined the Army Reserves and was on active duty for three months, October to December, 1950. Prior to moving to Kasson in 1952, he worked at several local cheese factories and at Renner Hardware in West Concord, and attended night school at Dunwoody Institute to study welding. In Kasson, he worked for Kasson Well Drilling and Beaver Hardware before joining the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 49 as a heavy equipment operator. Mr. Rhodes was a charter member of Zion Lutheran Church in West Concord in 1948. In 1952 he became a member of Grace Lutheran Church in Dodge Center. He was a member of the Couples Club, Men's Group, and Kasson American Legion Post 333, and was an officer of the local AAL branch. He enjoyed playing cards, mowing his lawn, appliance repair, and his woodworking, which he shared with many friends and family. He and his wife were married 68 years; Mrs. Rhodes preceded him in death on Oct. 17, 2006.

Survivors include four daughters, Kathy (Leroy) Rottink of Riceville, Iowa, Janet Johnson of St. Louis, Mo., Marilyn Rhodes of Rochester and Lois (Mike) Ryan of Montgomery, Minn.; two sons, Fred (Wanda) of Rochester and John (Lois) of Cologne, Minn.; 13 grandchildren; 13 great-grandchildren; five sisters, Mary Gillard and Charlotte (Charles) Hughes, both of Kasson, Carole Walker and Joanne (Delmer) Paulson, both of West Concord, and Linda (Marshall) Beckett of Ladysmith, Wis.; and two brothers, Bob of West Concord and Jerry (Arlene) of Owatonna. In addition to his wife, he was preceded in death by an infant son, Carl; his parents, Fred and Augusta (Wehmeyer) Rhodes; a brother, Delbert; two sisters, Della and Dorothy; and a son-in-law, Lance Johnson.

Friends may call from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Monday at Dibble Funeral Home in Kasson, and an hour before the service Tuesday at the church in Dodge Center. Memorials are suggested to Grace Lutheran Church, the Alzheimer's Association of Rochester, or the Mayo Clinic Alzheimer's Research Unit.

Rochester Post-Bulletin, Rochester, MN
11/26/2008