Mary Louise Rhodes

Our Mother, Mary Louise Cavanaugh Rhodes, was loved by many people, especially her five children, nine grandchildren, and her surviving sister Pat Getchel. How shall we summarize all that she did, or how she made us feel over her 92 years on this small planet? From Flint Michigan to Okemos and East Lansing, to London, across Europe and back, she made impressions on us daily. Just as she lived while this was written, she will remain among us after her passing.

On top of her motherly care and wisdom, was her wit and humor, insight and intellect. She had a fondness for re-telling her favorite experiences, which made her more special to us. Broadway musicals such as Oklahoma! and My Fair Lady filled our home. Mom inspired us with her love of English literature and her poetry quotes were legendary. Birdwatching was her sport.

Mom was always a teacher. For 15 years she enlightened East Lansing’s 10th grade English students with her passion for written and spoken words (apologies to Mom for any grammatical errors herein). Many more students learned English as a Second Language, which she taught until age 70.

As a girl she loved summer and spent many seasons up north with Grandma Dutil and the extended family. For 80 winters, she looked forward to the summer: swimming, porch sitting, weeks of Family Love, deviled eggs and her annual BLT.

She loved politics and was a lifelong Democrat, active in the League of Women Voters, NAACP and generous supporter of many candidates. She instilled in her kids the importance of voting, posted candidate yard signs and in 2020 happily affixed a Biden/Harris banner to her walker. She was a modern suffragette and thrilled that after 240 years we finally had a Madame Vice President.

She was a devout Catholic who spent the last 50 years as a member of St. John Catholic Church and Student Center. She sang hymns with gusto and became a reader at Mass, provoking her granddaughter to proclaim to a friend that “Grandma worked for God.” At home, Mary was privately spiritual. She believed in justice for all and behaved by example in helping those less fortunate than she.

She loved history, especially Michigan history and dedicated herself to becoming the best docent she could at Kresge Art Museum, the Michigan Historical Museum and for the last 20 years, an active volunteer at the Meridian Historical Village where she shared one-room schoolhouse history. She loved poetry and could recite verbatim many poems right to the end, Emily Dickinson and Robert Frost were favorites.

She loved reading and filled her coffee table, dining table and scores of bookcases with BOOKS, poetry anthologies and prayer guides. She never missed a good book sale; she gave books as gifts. After moving into an apartment at age 92, she donated over 3,000 books to the Okemos Public Library. These books were her friends and she had a story, memory, or review for each.

While growing up, we had an 8th member of the family, Rover. Each thought that he or she were his favorite, but truthfully Mom was, for her absolute devotion to the family was easy for all to see, not the least of whom was our humble terrier-mix. She also loved Morgan the family springer spaniel named after the family cottage who was a loyal friend.

We all miss her dearly: her children, Martha Rhodes Bashore and Mark Bashore, Beth Rhodes, Jane Rhodes Wolfe and Jim Wolfe, Dan Rhodes and Matt and Caryn Rhodes, as do her grandchildren, Audrey Bashore and Daniel Stritzke, Ethan Bashore, Katelyn Rhodes, Bennett Wolfe, Alison Rhodes and Jake Chappelle, Estelle Rhodes, Danny Rhodes, Elliott Wolfe and Zemo Rhodes, and her sister Pat Getchel. She will also be missed by many long-time friends and neighbors.

Let’s now sing together, in tune with her favorite barbershop quartet song, “Good night sweetheart, well its time to go… I hate to leave you, but I really must say I love you.”

Thankfully Mom did not die from COVID. She was healthy until the end of December walking at least a mile each day, reading and doing the crossword, making exercise and learning a priority. She died, peacefully, as she lived, surrounded by her five children, talking about grandchildren, politics and birdwatching, reciting poetry and prayer. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the Friends of Historic Meridian, 5151 Marsh Rd., Okemos, MI 48864 or the Refugee Development Center of Lansing, 600 W. Maple St., Suite A, Lansing, MI 48906.

Visitation services are Feb 20 at 10 am, St John Student Center, followed by Funeral Service at 11 am, according to COVID protocols.

Recorded video of service: www.facebook.com/844419852775403/