Minerd.com Biography of Alta Gladys (Jones) Van Wie Rhodes and Husbands Lee Van Wie and Herbert Rhodes of Garnett, KS

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Alta Gladys (Jones)
Van Wie Rhodes
(1909-1988)

Alta and Lee Van Wie

Alta "Gladys" (Jones) Van Wie Rhodes was born on May 23, 1909 in or near Harris, Reeder Township, Anderson County, KS, the daughter of Martin Luther and Nellie (Brown) Jones.

Gladys taught school for at least three decades beginning in the late 1920s or 1930. Circa 1971, she was an educator in Hillsdale, Miami County, KS.

When the federal census was enumerated in 1930, the 20-year-old unmarried Gladys and her 28-year-old sister Hazel both made their residence under the roof of their parents in Westphalia Township, Anderson County. The sisters both were listed as teachers in the local public schools.

Gladys was married twice. Her first husband was Lee L. Van Wie (1898-1950). He was a native Kansan, with his father having come from Ohio and his mother from New York State.

The couple was wed on March 4, 1932, when Gladys was age 23, and Lee was age 34. There was an 11-year difference in their ages.

Lee was tall and rotund, and was employed as a foreman for a construction company in Washington Township, Anderson County. Prior to marriage, in 1930, he had lived in the township with his single brother Earl F. Van Wie in the home of their widowed older sister Alta Carnes and her sons Cecil and George Carnes.

Gladys (right) and her giant husband Lee Van Wie (center) chat with visiting brother Clyde J. Jones and his sons, circa 1939.

Alta, Herb and stepson

Sadly, Lee died an untimely death at the age of 52 in January 1950, but details of his passing are not yet known.

Gladys later married her second husband, Herbert Rhodes (1909-1983).

Herbert brought at least one son to the marriage, who served in a ROTC or military unit.

Alta, 1960s

Gladys' official school portrait at the Hillsdale School is seen here, circa the mid-1960s.

Herbert died in Garnett, Anderson County in December 1983 at the age of 74.

Twice-widowed, Gladys outlived Herbert by nearly five years.

She passed away in Garnett at the age of 79 on Aug. 13, 1988.