Adrienne White Rhodes

A lifelong Chattanoogan, Adrienne grew up on Missionary Ridge. Saturdays belonged to her beloved Vols at Neyland Stadium; Sundays to First-Centenary United Methodist Church, where she was a lifelong member. Her loyalties were not short-term arrangements.

At Girls Preparatory School (Class of 1950), she made lifelong friends and studied under several of the school’s founders. Miss Duffy’s mnemonic for the English monarchs stuck: decades later, Adrienne could still recite it on cue. She went on to Bradford College in Haverhill, Mass., before an untimely bout of mononucleosis derailed her intended move to Vanderbilt. Instead, she enrolled at the University of Chattanooga (Class of 1954), pledged Pi Phi and worked at the student newspaper.

Her life’s work was at Lake Winnepesaukah Amusement Park, where she began as a child alongside her beloved grandmother, park co-founder Minette Dixon. After college, Adrienne joined the park’s all-female leadership team, becoming part of the third generation of her family at the helm. With the courage and resolve she admired in her grandmother and mother, she helped steer Lake Winnie through decades of change, including the opening of SoakYa, a six-acre water park, in 2013. In 2025, she saw the park turn 100.

Guests knew her by her morning golf-cart rounds and her wide-brimmed sun hats, of which she had dozens. Lake Winnie has its landmarks; Adrienne was one of them. The hundreds of area teenagers who developed a strong work ethic in their first jobs at the park were a particular source of pride, and return visits from former employees, with stories to swap, never failed to delight her. For the park’s train ride, she wrote a script whose closing words summed up her own outlook as neatly as her hopes for the guests: “Enjoy your day and treasure your memories.”

The family, as well as Adrienne, is blessed that most recently she was a resident of Thrive at Brow Wood, where she was met daily with dignity, compassion and those who shared her sense of positivity and joy.

She is survived by her daughter, Tennyson Dickinson (Tommy); granddaughters, Taylor Cordeiro (Andrew) and Carter Dickinson; grandson, Myers Dickinson; son-in-law, Jeff Green; nieces, Evelyn Harless and Libby Haun; and nephew, Charlie Harless. She was preceded in death by her mother, Evelyn Dixon White; husband, L.C. (Buddy) Rhodes, Jr.; daughter, Talley Rhodes Green; sister, Charlyn (Tootsie) Harless; and niece, Kelly Harless Lytle.

Services will be at First-Centenary United Methodist Church on Wednesday, November 11. The family will receive friends at a visitation beginning at 2:00 p.m., followed by a celebration of life at 3:00 p.m. A private family burial will follow.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to Girls Preparatory School or First-Centenary United Methodist Church. Adrienne credited GPS with lasting friendships and preparation for her life’s work and challenges; First-Centenary anchored her faith for her lifetime.

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