Earl S. Rhodes

Earl was born in Willow, Arkansas in 1927. He entered service in the US Navy in 1944 at age 17. He was trained as an Aerial Photographer and joined the newly-formed US Air Force in 1947. He was one of the few veterans that served during WWII, and the Korean and Viet Nam conflicts.

During his military career, he mapped portions of every continent except Antarctica. He served 2 back-to-back tours in the Vietnam War before retiring from military service. He had many stories about his experiences in Viet Nam and his particular avocation was photographing the Vietnamese people in everyday situations. His letters home always included pictures; a memorable highlight is a picture of him serving as a guide to John Wayne during a USO tour promoting the upcoming film, “The Green Berets”.

In 1967 he moved his young family to Tallahassee, FL, where he attained a Bachelor and Master of Science degrees from Florida State University. After teaching high school for two years, he went on to work for the State of Florida’s Department of Transportation (DOT) as an aerial photographer.

He loved the photo-mapping teams he worked with, both flying and processing the imagery into maps. The Kodak image processor used during his tenure was originally designed to require a 3 person team to process a file. Earl figured out how to process the film files by himself, and Kodak sent their engineers to learn how he was able to do it. He later turned down an employment offer from Kodak so his kids could graduate high school in Tallahassee.

He logged an impressive amount of flight time but quit logging his Air Force and DOT flying hours after he hit 15,000. He retired from the DOT in 1984 and went on to earn his Master Gardener certification. In time, he needed more challenges, so he began working part-time at a local TV station. After serval years, he finally truly retired.

Earl is survived by his wife of 59 years, Bessie Rhodes; their 3 children and spouses, Michael and Sarah Rhodes, Bettye and Ron Nichols, and Michelle and Paul Montgomery: his 7 grandchildren, Jessica (Rhodes) Kaulback and Nicholas Rhodes, William, Kristina and Michael Nichols, and Ian and Andrew Montgomery; and his two great-grandchildren, Isadora and Wriley Nichols.

A viewing and visitation will be held at Culley’s MeadowWood Funeral Home and Memorial Park – Timberlane Road Chapel on Saturday, April 18, 2015 at 10 am with a service to follow at 11.