Gary Lynn Rhodes passed away at Schowalter Villa Health Care on Saturday, June 3, 2023.
He was born April 24, 1945, to Esther Lucille (Dunkin) and Arthur Leroy Rhodes in Great Bend, Kansas.
During his early years the family also lived in Garnett, Kansas as well as Tulsa, Oklahoma and Belle Plaine, Kansas. They moved to Sterling, Kansas when Gary entered high school where he was a high jumper and basketball player and graduated in the spring of 1963. He then attended Sterling College for a year before joining the United States Air Force. He trained in Texas and was stationed at Holloman AFB in New Mexico. At Holloman, he was on the All-Air Force traveling basketball team.
During his stint with the USAF, he became reacquainted with former Sterling High School classmate, Janice Schechter, and they were married in December 1968 just prior to his going to Viet Nam where he was a member of the Delta Dragons Special Ops Unit.
After his honorable discharge from the USAF in February 1970, Gary attended Southwestern College in Winfield and graduated in 1972 with a degree in Elementary Education.
The couple then moved to Shawnee Mission to teach for one year and returned to Winfield in 1973 where Gary began teaching sixth grade at Whittier School. Children, Holly and Ty, were born in those early years in Winfield. Gary attended night classes at WSU to earn a Master’s Degree in Education Administration and continued to earn more than 60 hours beyond that degree. He taught at Whittier Elementary School for 18 Years
and then served as administrator there for 10 years. For 15 of those years, he also served as Director of Adult Education in Northern Cowley County for Cowley College.
After his retirement from the Winfield Public Schools in 2000, he taught 7 th and 8 th Grade Language Arts, PE and Current Events and coached boys’ basketball in the Oxford Schools for seven years. In 2009, Gary was honored with induction into Southwestern College Educators Hall of Fame.
He was a member of First United Methodist Church in Winfield and had attended Hesston Mennonite Brethren Church since moving to Hesston.
After 46 years in Winfield, Gary and Janice moved to Hesston on November 8, 2017, to live in Independent Living at Schowalter Villa. Gary continued to enjoy his favorite life-long hobby, fishing, and also spent many hours riding and tinkering with his recumbent bikes.
Gary is survived by wife, Janice of 54 years; daughter, Holly and husband, Greg McCracken of Cincinnati, Ohio; son, Ty and wife, Brittni of Hesston, Kansas; grandchildren, Quinn, Ryli, Maci, and Whit; niece, Andi and nephews, Jesse and Curtis. Gary was preceded in death by his parents, his sister, Connie, and brother, Terry.
Family and friends are invited to a celebration of Gary’s life with military honors, which will be held in Dyck Arboretum Pavilion at 177 W Hickory St, Hesston on June 17, 2023, at 10 a.m. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Schowalter Villa Good Samaritan Fund in care of Miller-Ott Funeral Home, P.O. Box 32 Hesston, KS 67062.