The Marathon community lost a beloved neighbor and business leader with the passing of Dianne Rhodes on April 20.
Born on Dec. 30, 1946, her life began on the farmlands of Sedalia, Missouri, where she raised her son, Jon Ferguson, and daughter, Lori Harvey. A firm believer that “life is short, so eat your dessert first,” she found that “dessert” in Marathon when she followed her older sister Judy Shaw to the island in 1993.
Starting a cleaning and property management business, she eventually met the late Ernie Rhodes, founder of Rhodes Plumbing, in 1995. While the pair were repairing their hurricane-damaged house in 2006, Ernie was diagnosed with lung cancer. Accelerating their plans to wed in December of that year, the pair were married at Fishermen’s Hospital mere days before Ernie’s passing.
Described as an act of “fate or a higher power” by Lori Harvey, plumber Todd Childress began working for Rhodes Plumbing the week before Ernie’s first doctor’s appointment. Left with Ernie’s business upon his passing, Dianne left her own business to continue Rhodes Plumbing with Childress.
“She just jumped in, and as with everything that my mom did, she figured it out,” said Lori, calling Childress her “brother from another mother” who had a “very special relationship” with Dianne.
“Once in a while, you meet somebody and you don’t know why you’re drawn to each other,” Childress told the Weekly. “She was one of the coolest people I ever met.”
Dianne eventually became “not your typical grandmother” to three granddaughters, one grandson, and three step-grandchildren. Her accumulation of grandchildren would give her eight great-grandchildren. Childress and his wife Patti, along with their children, Carley and Max, also became family.
In 2013, she would meet Bobby Young, her partner until she passed away. Together, the pair would travel to the Bahamas throughout her final decade on their boat, “Life is Good,” docking at Treasure Cay or Green Turtle Cay and inviting family and friends to visit.
Known for her pride in her appearance, Dianne loved wearing Lilly Pulitzer dresses, a tradition she passed on to her “Lilly Girls” including Harvey and granddaughters Jessica Borraccino, Emily Lehman, Anna Katherine Bruce and Chandler Jones. She also converted her great-granddaughters, Avery Mae Lehman and Isla Borraccino, into Lilly Girls.
“I don’t know if she was ageless, or she was scared of getting old, but we never talked about things like her birthday,” said Harvey. “Before she got sick, she didn’t look 75. She was not your typical grandma. … She had three Corvettes.”
Orchids, palm trees, bromeliads and plants from wherever she could find them made their way to her yard after botanical field trips with Shaw. Her yard became the place where she spent countless cathartic hours planting and tending to her ever-evolving and growing little jungle. She and Captain Bobby spent their early mornings sitting on the back porch with their coffee, watching the birds and listening to the wind chimes.
Famous among family and friends for her ability to do anything she set her mind to, she could “recover an old couch or bring an old dining room table back to life with a little paint and her ingenuity,” said son-in-law Steven Harvey. “She ran a tanning business in Missouri and a plumbing business in Marathon. She went to Fantasy Fest. She rode out several hurricanes, including Irma. (But) with all the things she was and did in her life, she was never presumptuous, and she made loving her easy.”
“She was always a person to say, F it, do whatever makes you happy,” said Childress. “She told you how she felt, and she didn’t pull any punches, whether it was a friend or foe.
“It’s hard to put into words what she meant to me. … She would do anything for anybody, but she’d be the first person to tell you, ‘No, that’s B.S., I’m not doing that.’”
Honoring Ernie Rhodes’ wish that his business would eventually pass to his employees, Dianne gave full ownership of Rhodes Plumbing to Childress.
“Mom said, ‘There would be no Ernest E. Rhodes Plumbing if it wasn’t for Todd,’ and that’s a 150% true statement,” Harvey told the Weekly.
Dianne’s family will celebrate her life at her home in Marathon on July 30. Details will be announced soon for family and friends to attend.
