Susan  Kennedy  Rhodes


The Shelbyville News
Saturday May 8, 1948
Page 2
----------
SUSIE  KENNEDY  RHODES
(Picture)
By Ave Lewis
----------
           "Cross word puzzles—and I’ll bet you’ve never had that one before."  That was the answer given by Mrs. Susie Kennedy Rhodes to a "stock" question about hobbies in a talk this week.
           Mrs. Rhodes subscribes to and buys all the cross word puzzle books she can locate and never finds them tiresome or irritating.  Maybe because she long ago passed the stage of pencil chewing and mumbling over a four-letter word "old Norse work" or something just as simple.
           A teacher in Shelbyville schools for some years, Mrs. Rhodes estimates that at some time or other she has taught about half the people she meets in a casual walk downtown.  And unexpectedly meeting a long-ago pupil and remembering him or her and being remembered is a high point in any day for her.  She likes school teaching and she likes people.
           She was born in the same block where her present home now is located—at 141 West Hendricks street.  Her early life was uneventful she says and she attended the school which was on the site of the present Major school.  "It was the only one in town," Mrs. Rhodes says, "and it just was called ‘the school’."  After graduating from the local high school she taught at the old Moberly school east of Shelbyville before enrolling at the State Normal at Terre haute.  Coming back home she taught for three years and it was during this time that she met her future husband, John W. Rhodes, whose death occurred in January, 1943.  Their romance started during a Shelby county fair.  Seems she and a group of friends were making the rounds of the ground when she heard a mutual friend say  "Spruce up John, I want you to meet Miss Kennedy."
           That was the first of many fairs the couple attended together.  Because in addition to being a teacher Mr. Rhodes always was interested in horse racing and for many years drove on the local track.  But Mrs. Rhodes’ enthusiasm for his driving never was too great.  She merely went because he liked for her to be there.  They were members of the Wi-Hub Circle for many years and Mrs. Rhodes has served as president of the organization.
           She also is a member of Mary Mott Green chapter of the D.A.R. and Mrs. Roscoe O’Byrne, the present president-general of the National D.A.R. is her second cousin.
           Following their marriage on August 26, 1893, both Mr. and Mrs. Rhodes taught at various schools and resided for a while in Morristown where their only son, William, was born.  This was followed with several years’ residence in Greensburg and they returned to Shelbyville when the son was ready for high school.  "His is the career you should be writing," Mrs. Rhodes says.  Bill was an Annapolis graduate and now is  Captain William Rhodes, U.S. Navy, stationed at Norfolk, Virginia.  He and his wife have a son, William Kennedy Rhodes, Jr. who soon will be Annapolis material and he naturally is the proverbial "apple" of his grandmother’s eye.
           Mrs. Rhodes retired from the teaching profession during the Christmas season of 1942.  But she still keeps her finger in the business by acting as "reader" for the boys and girls on West Hendricks street.  That is, she aids them with memory work and various other school problems.  And along with her cross word puzzles she maintains her home, teaches a Sunday school class at her home church, the First Presbyterian, and frequently is called upon to give book reviews, readings or stories at the social gatherings she attends.
           And she probably could be highly entertaining in almost any local group should she start recalling classroom antics of the people present.
Contributed by Barb Huff

Biography Index       Main Page