Arnold Rhoads

Arnold Ervin Rhoads “graduated” to be with his Lord on January 20, 2014 in the quiet peace of his home at the Ponderosa. He was born in Seattle one hundred years ago on December 5, 1913 to Ellen and Josiah Rhoads. After graduating from Lincoln High in 1931 he began to work delivering ice to help his mother support the family during the Great Depression. In 1941 Arnold was drafted, but allowed two months before enlistment to finish his first home and marry the love of his life, Earlita Emslie. During the war he was a supply officer, a captain, providing supplies during the Normandy invasion and on into Germany. After the war Arnold and Earlita raised their children, two daughters and two sons. He often told people “they never had an argument.” They moved from Seattle to Moses Lake in 1954 and he worked as a carpenter building homes, offices, hospitals, dams, bridges, and missile silos during the Cold War. As they neared retirement, they began to build a rental business which he maintained until 2008 when he left Moses Lake to live closer to family in Yakima. They were featured in the Moses Lake Herald as “the Rhoads of Love.” Arnold was a spiritual man. He served as a priest and an elder in the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Seattle and served as pastor and pillar of the congregration in Moses Lake for many years. He was dedicated to the Lord and served Him, keeping his covenant all his days. He had many spiritual experiences; his most recent assured him the Lord had prepared a special place for him in His Eternal Rest. Arnold enjoyed his garden and often was found tinkering in his garage trying to fix anything that had a useful purpose. He also played the accordion in his youth, and later entertained family on the piano and organ playing “old time favorites” and hymns. Arnold was preceded in death by his wife of 64 years, Earlita Emslie Rhoads, and his parents, two sisters, Nettie Olds, and Viola Weeks, one brother, Russel Rhoads; and one grandson, Jose Mateo Esquivel. Surviving and left to honor him are two daughters, Janet Esquivel (Zillah, WA) and Marilee McCrath (Kansas City, MO), and two sons, Bill Rhoads (Sibley, MO) and David Rhoads (Chinook, WA); ten grandchildren and seventeen great-grandchildren. Now he has been greeted by the loving arms of his wife and mother, and is at rest in the glory of the Lord. He will be missed. A memorial service will be held Saturday, February 1, 2014 at 2:00 PM at Valley Hills Funeral Home in Zillah, Washington. Valley Hills Funeral Home in Zillah is in care of the arrangements. Online tributes can be left at valleyhillsfh.com. To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Arnold Rhoads, please visit our flower store.