Friday, March 29, 2024

Eileen K (Daughenbaugh) Rhoades

Name of Deceased Eileen K (Daughenbaugh) Rhoades
Age 66
Date of Death 12/28/2020
Date of Birth 01/14/1954
Funeral Home Kader-Neff Funeral Home

Eileen K. Rhoades, 66, of Howard, passed away peacefully on Monday, December 28, 2020 at her home, after a three-and-a-half-year fight with Cancer. Born on January 14, 1954, in Lock Haven, PA, she was the daughter of the late Robert Lowell Daughenbaugh & Luella Mae (Garman) Daughenbaugh. On December 21, 1974 at Curtin Church, she married Lloyd A. Rhoades, Jr. who survives her.

Eileen is a 1971 graduate of Bald Eagle Area High School. She attended Edinboro University, majoring in Spanish. She was a homemaker, but she worked over 20 years as an educational aid in learning assistance classrooms at Wingate Elementary School in her beloved Bald Eagle Area School District – she loved working with the kids.

Eileen enjoyed cooking for her family, but really loved to garden, which was cultivated by her years of working in Hilner’s Greenhouse as a teenager. She loved flowering plants and vegetables, usually grown in pots because her bad knees made being on the ground difficult for her. Eileen loved to hang clothes outside on the clothes line, because of the fresh smell, particularly with bedding. She loved attending Bald Eagle Area Wrestling, Lock Haven University Wrestling, and especially Penn State Wrestling. Bo Nickal was her favorite wrestler.

To say that Eileen was an avid genealogist all of her life is a huge understatement. She developed a vast collection of all the branches of her family tree. She loved spending her free time in The Centre County Historical Library or any other library, court house, or cemetery where she could pour over old records to gather and document her research. Eileen loved having breakfasts with her friends and past coworkers and just catching up with them. She loved taking “road trips” with her identical twin cousin, Cathy (Daughenbaugh) Shafranich and with Lloyd. And Eileen especially loved to travel and explore with Lloyd – to Newfoundland, Ireland, Iceland, and to all Canadian Provinces except Nunavut. She enjoyed that she visited all of our American states, except Hawaii.

But most of all, and far above anything else, she loved her family…her children and grandchildren. She was very proud of them all, and they were a constant source of joy to her. She loved buying them gifts, but she really enjoyed buying dresses for her only granddaughter and sending them to her to open.

In addition to her husband of Eileen is survived by her daughter and two sons: Julie D. Valora, Wingate, Mickey L. Rhoades and his wife, Lorna, of Chesapeake, VA, and Matthew Rhoades and his wife Karen of Allenton, WI; four grandchildren: Jordan Valora, Evander Bolar, Gracie Beth Rhoades and Callan Rhoades. She is also survived by one brother, Robert Lynn Daughenbaugh of Howard and numerous cousins, nieces and nephews.

A visitation will be held on Saturday, January 2, 2021 from 10-11am at the Kader-Neff Funeral Home in Howard. In accordance with COVID-19 restrictions, facial masks and social distancing will be observed. Eileen will be laid to rest in Eagle Cemetery, next to her mother and father.

Eileen’s family would like to say THANK YOU to UPMC Home Hospice that assisted greatly in her final care. The nurses and personal aids could not have been more kind and compassionate in caring for Eileen. Her family is incredibly grateful to UPMC.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made to the American Cancer Society, 1375 Martin St Ste 206, State College, PA 16803.

An online guest book can be signed or condolences to the family available at www.kader-neff.com.