Irvin Chester 'Dusty' Rhodes was born July 28, 1921 in Stidham, Oklahoma and went home to meet his Lord and Savior on May 19, 2009.

During his early years he worked on his family farm, and during the Great Depression he participated in FDR's Civilian Conservation Corps. He served his country in World War II with tours in North Africa, Sicily, and Italy and received a Purple Heart for wounds he received in action. After returning from the war, he and his wife, Beulah (Ridge) Rhodes, started their family - two sons, Chester Wayne and Gary Rhodes, and two daughters, Carol (Calamaio) and Shirley (Hawthorne). He served on the Pierce School Board before moving to Nicoma Park. While working at Tinker Air Force Base and raising his family, he served on the Nicoma Park City Council and served 12 years as a board member for Choctaw/Nicoma Park Schools.Later in life, Dusty returned to his childhood home outside of Checotah, Oklahoma where he served as County Commissioner for McIntosh County. He served as a State Representative, for what was then District 15, in the forty-first, forty-third, and forty-fifth Oklahoma Legislatures, where he was Chairman for the County and Municipal Government Committee. He was a member of the Eastwood Baptist Church in Midwest City and a former member of the Nicoma Park and Brush Hill Baptist Churches. He was also a member of the Veteran of Foreign Wars, Order of the Purple Heart Lifetime Committee, and the Disabled American Veterans. He was honored with a lifetime membership to the Oklahoma State Board of County Commissioners. But most of all, Dusty was a friend and mentor to many. In the last few years of life, Dusty enjoyed fishing and spending time with his great-grandchildren.

He is survived by his wife, Beulah, brother, JL, sister, Annie Mae (Suiter), four children, seven grandchildren, and ten great-grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his parents, James Luther and Nellie, two brothers, Loran and Buford, two sisters, Gwendola and Ella (Jacobs), son-in-law, Johnny Calamaio, and granddaughter, Karen Kay Rhodes.

His funeral will be held on Saturday, May 23 at 10:00 a.m. at Barnes Friedrich Funeral Home in Midwest City.

A graveside service will also be held Saturday at the Pierce Cemetery in Pierce, Oklahoma at 2:30 p.m.

 

Funeral

Barnes Friederich Funeral Home Chapel

1820 S. Douglas Blvd.

Midwest City, OK   73130