Judi Rhodes
is honored with a Brick from Bill Wynne
The best way to tell a story is to start at the beginning. Judith Ann was born on May 17th, 1944 to Oscar and Pauline Downing. She was the 5th of six children born to the Downing clan. At an early age she fell in love with a handsome man with coal black hair and a devilish smile, his name was Elvis Aaron Presley. Judi loved to dance and would sneak out every chance she could to listen to the handsome Elvis and dance. Try as she may, she was never able to win Elvis' heart, so she settled for another handsome man by the name of Bob Rhodes.
Judi and Bob were married on September 21, 1960 and one year later gave birth to the first of three daughters. Judi was a good momma and she loved her three girls very deeply. She made them pretty dresses and fixed their hair up in ribbons and bows. When the girls grew to adolescence, Judi took a job with the Registrar's Office at Wichita State University. She worked hard and eventually was promoted to Supervisor over the transcript window. Judi learned to deal with many different kinds of personalities, including the likes of Irene Feak, Diane Barnes and Bill Wynne. Bob and Judi took up motorcycling and could be spotted nearly every weekend headed out of town for a ride. She even had her own motorcycle – a real motorcycle momma. Judi still loved to dance, so she and her oldest daughter took dancing lessons. They had a wonderful time spinning around the dance floor and would laugh all the way home while wiping the footprints off their boots. Life just doesn't get any better than this.
As in any life, there are many ups and downs. The downs have intentionally been left out of this story so that we could celebrate the ups, the many ups, of a life lived fully. To celebrate Judi's ups, we have dedicated a brick in the Plaza of Heroines to honor her. She has been known by many names: daughter, wife, mother, grandmother, boss and friend. Thank you for everything that you have been to all of us, for all these years. Let the celebration begin!
