Elizabeth Rhodes, supporter of Georgia arts and crafts

By J.E. Geshwiler

For the AJC

Elizabeth Rhodes was a connoisseur of North Georgia arts and crafts, including pottery and wood carvings.

She collected them. She created museum exhibits of them. She was a docent who explained them. And she and her husband Hal, since deceased, established an endowment at North Georgia College with the intention that these forms of expression would continue to thrive.

With their financial and hands-on assistance, the Rhodeses were instrumental in keeping the Georgia Arts and Crafts Center and the Georgia Mountain Museum alive in the organizations' early days, said John Jacobs of Gainesville, another museum leader. Over the years the groups were merged as the North Georgia History Center, now located on Brenau University's campus.

"Elizabeth did every volunteer job there was, but what she did best was to create beautiful, well-organized displays and energize other volunteers with her enthusiasm," said Frances Mathis of Gainesville, who with her late husband James co-founded the museum.

Emily Elizabeth Caldwell Rhodes, 89, of Newnan died Sunday at Piedmont Hospital of complications after a stroke. A memorial service will be at 1 p.m. Saturday at the auditorium of Wesley Woods of Newnan. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the Hal Rhodes III Scholarship Fund, North Georgia College, 70 Alumni Drive, Dahlonega GA 30533. Carl J. Mowell & Son Funeral Home, Peachtree City, is in charge of arrangements.

Mrs. Rhodes was born in Gay, graduated from Tift College and later earned her master's degree at North Georgia College. She taught elementary school and coached basketball in Smyrna, Warner Robins and Gainesville.

She had collected Georgia-made crafts for 40-odd years, said her daughter, Kathie Manes of Fayetteville, so it was a natural choice when she and her husband retired to turn their attention to the Gainesville museum.

"Mother also had taken some art instruction and did some paintings, usually Georgia nature scenes. She was very modest about them, but my brother and I think they're good enough for framing," Mrs. Manes said.

Mrs. Rhodes was an avid gardener -- in her own way. "To some people, Mother's garden might have seemed somewhat disorganized, but she favored Georgia wildflowers looking the way they did in their natural state," Mrs. Manes said. "Mother would cut bunches of them and make gorgeous floral arrangements."

Another retirement activity was travel -- lots of it. "Mom and Dad went all over the world and made friends wherever they would go. For them, places didn't matter as much as the people they encountered," said their son, Leland Rhodes of Fayetteville.

"Their favorite destinations were Australia and New Zealand, which they visited four times. A young woman they met in New Zealand even came to live with them for several months," Mr. Rhodes said.

Survivors also include three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.