Marian Webb Rhoden, consummate volunteer

Marian Rhoden really worked her retirement.

Known by many as “Granny,” and by her great-grandchildren as “Big Granny,” she logged 3,135 volunteer hours in 11 years at Piedmont Hospital.

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Family photo

Marian Webb Rhoden receives a flower from her great-granddaughter, Edy Evans. Mrs. Rhoden was known by many as ‘Granny’ and by her great-grandchildren as ‘Big Granny.’

She donated countless more hours ushering shows at the Fox Theater.

“She was a busybody. She didn’t sit still very long,” said her granddaughter, Alison Boyer, of Brookhaven. “A lot of my friends have said that the good thing about Granny is she lived a very full life.”

Marian Webb Rhoden, 82, of the Embry Hills area, died of respiratory failure March 10 at Northside Hospital. The body was cremated. Her memorial service is Sunday at 3 p.m. at H.M. Patterson & Son’s Oglethorpe Hill Chapel.

Mrs. Rhoden spent the first half of her life in Jacksonville, Fla., where she was a secretary for A.B. Dick, a graphic arts and printing equipment supplier. She moved to Atlanta in 1965, continuing with A.B. Dick until she retired in 1991. That’s when her second life began.

Sheila Bonner, coordinator of the Woman’s Auxiliary at Piedmont Hospital, said most volunteers come once a week, but Mrs. Rhoden worked two to three days each week. She manned the information desk, sat with the families of critically ill patients and delivered flowers to patients from 1995 to 2006.

“She was always willing to help any time we needed her. I think she loved delivering the flowers,” Ms. Bonner said. “She was a cute lady, but she also had a loving, fun-natured personality.”

Mrs. Rhoden lived for 20 years in the same apartment in sort of an unofficial senior living complex, Ms. Boyer said, and she knew and told everyone’s business.

“She said if she saw an ambulance, she knew she’d be getting a new neighbor soon,” Ms. Boyer said.

She was funny, but she also had a crusty side, friends and family said.

“She lived life as if there was no popularity contest because she was very frank,” said her son, Randy Rhoden of Jacksonville, Fla. “She would tell you exactly what she felt and you could tell her that, too. She could dish it out, but she could take it.”

Mrs. Rhoden took full advantage of living in Atlanta.

She loved taking her grandchildren to Lenox Square to watch people. She never missed cheering on runners in the Peachtree Road Race from her favorite spot, the corner of Peachtree and Pharr roads. She was a regular at the Varsity. Her favorite meal: a slaw dog, a fried peach pie, and a PC (plain chocolate milk).

And for the past 10 years, her Christmas gifts were ornaments for the grandchildren and a donation in each family’s name to the Atlanta Union Mission.

Additional survivors include her daughter Nancy Brown of Ellijay; five grandchildren; and 11 great-grandchildren.