Jeannette "Penny" Wilma (Rhoads) Nesbit

On September 17, 2021, our beloved mother passed from this life.

Born in Boonton, NJ to Esther and William Rhoads, Jeannette was the second of three girls. She and her eldest sister traveled into New York City on a regular basis to take music lessons and visit the cultural attractions that their parents felt were so important. Those visits started a life-long love of music and the arts, and a keen appreciation of travel and culture.

After attending St. John’s School in Mountain Lakes, NJ, Jeannette studied music at Moravian College in Bethlehem, PA. While there, she met her future husband, Peterson Nesbit, who was attending Lehigh University, also in Bethlehem, PA. He called her Penny, after a comic strip that featured a red-headed teenager named Penny who had a boyfriend named Pete. Just prior to their respective graduations in 1952, Pete and Penny were married.

Their first home together was a small apartment in New York City, where Pete started his career and Penny sang professionally with the Buffalo Bills. Soon, their first child Dale Peterson was born, followed by Monica Beth, Eric Rhoads, Alixandra, Mark McCornack, and Peterson, Jr.

While Pete climbed the corporate ladder in various locales, Penny was busy as a full-time wife and mother, taking time out to get her master’s degree in Philosophy from the University of Dayton. Her daughter Alix refers to that period of time as the crock-pot years.

Eventually, the family settled in Evansville, where Pete was President of Arkla, and later CEO of Period Furniture. Always an avid golfer, Pete convinced Penny to take up the game, and they enjoyed playing together at Oak Meadow Country Club and going on golf trips with good friends Suzy and Jay Picking. Penny was especially proud of her hole in one on #8 at Oak Meadow.

Following her husband’s passing in 1993, Penny embarked on a 25-year adventure, traveling to Africa, Ireland, the Galapagos Islands, and many points in between. With her daughter Monica, she went on safari, rode a camel, and took a hot air balloon ride over the Serengeti. Together they rafted the Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau, kayaked in Ketchikan, and rode snowmobiles through Yellowstone National Park. The two also pursued tamer adventures, such as traveling to London for a week of visiting museums and historical places.

Penny kissed the Blarney Stone, and enjoyed a few pints of Guinness in a few Irish Pubs. She toured National Parks in Utah with her sister Marilyn, and regularly traveled to visit her children and their families.

Penny was an intelligent, funny, passionate, and opinionated woman who suffered no fools and expected her boisterous, adoring, and equally opinionated children to live up to her high standards. That did not always go as planned.

Penny’s extended family gathered with her in late July to celebrate her life, making many memories for all to savor in the coming years. The last days of Penny’s life were spent in the company of her children, who laughed, reminisced, and cemented their sibling bond. Wrapping their mother in a cocoon of love, joy, and great respect, they gently sent her off to be with their father.

Penny was a dedicated mother, grandmother, and great-grand mother and is survived by her six children: Dale (Jacque) Nesbit of Charlotte, NC; Monica Nesbit of Evansville, IN; Eric (Beth) Nesbit of Eureka, MO; Alixandra (Ed) Cunningham of Richland, MI; Mark (Shannon Hurd) Nesbit of Bexley, OH; Peterson (Sara) Nesbit, Jr. of Loveland, OH; 16 grandchildren and 21 great-grandchildren. She is also survived by her sister Marilyn Miller of Homer, NY.

Penny was preceded in death by her parents, Esther Otis Rhoads and William Rhoads, sister Gretchen Rhoads DiLoreto, and her husband of 41 years, Peterson Nesbit, Sr.

The family would like to thank the staff at North River Health Campus, Legacy Unit for their professional, loving attention and support over the past three years. Bless you all for taking such good care of our amazing mother. Penny was one of a kind and will be greatly missed.

The family will hold a private celebration of Penny’s life at a later date.

Condolences may be offered at www.AlexanderNorthChapel.com