Paul J. Rhoades (1896 - 1973)

Born 30 Jan 1896 in Woodland Township, Fulton, Illinois, United States

Descendants

Died 20 Dec 1973 at age 77 in Sebring, Florida, United States

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Biography

At age 50 Paul and Orpha moved into the village of Astoria, Illinois. He could farm no longer. A sack of clover seed fell on his back and severed spinal cord nerves. Paul was not a quitter, he studied diligently and passed the Real Estate Broker's Exam. His love was helping young couples obtain loans so they could buy farms and stay in the community. While their son Benton was a missionary in South America, Paul and Orpha went to South America and Paultaught native Indians to build trench silos. In 1947 Paul was responsible for developing a camp (Camp Ellis) for the Southern Illinois District of the Church of the Brethren on a lake three miles south of Astoria, IL. Paul and Orpha took many individuals into their home and lovingly gave them a start: a boy off the streets of Chicago, already in the hands of the police and on the way to the detention home; a German exchange student whose father and brothers had been killed in World War II; a refugee family of four displaced persons from the Ukraine following WWII. They raised a little seven year old lad, who needed a home, to manhood. While living in Astoria they owned two houses, a filling station and garage and a motel.

Sources

• Follow the Peter Rhoades Trail: 1686-1997. by Nelda Rhoades Eikenberry. 1997