Violet F. Rhoads, age 93 of Mitchell, SD died Sunday, June 10, 2018 at Firesteel Healthcare Center. Memorial services will be 7:00 PM Thursday, June 14, 2018 at the Will Funeral Chapel with visitation on hour prior to the service. Burial will be 2:30 PM Thursday June 14, 2018 at the Bonney Cemetery in rural Forestburg, SD. The processional will be leaving from Will Funeral Chapel at 1:30 PM Thursday.

Violet Rhoads , 93, of Mitchell, died June 10, 2018 at Firesteel Healthcare Community. Violet was born to George  W. G. and Nora Foster on July 16, 1924 in her grandparent's home in Wheelwood, Iowa and was raised in the Plymouth, Iowa area along with two sisters, Goldie and Margie. She graduated from Plymouth High School in 1941. Violet worked and saved to attend Iowa Teachers College for one summer and taught in Iowa county schools 1944-1948.

Violet met Francis Rhoads while both were attending Wessington Springs College in South Dakota. They married on August 24, 1951 In Plymouth, Iowa. In 1956, Francis, Violet and 7 month old daughter, Gwen sailed on the SS Seven Seas Ship to serve as Educational Missionaries with World Gospel Mission in Burundi, Africa for four years. Prior to going to the Burundi mission field, they lived in Brussels, Belgium in preparation for service. Upon returning from Africa with her family in 1960, they remained on the Rhoads family farm near Forestburg, South Dakota to farm and raise livestock and her three children.

Violet was a hardworking homemaker, sewing clothes for the girls as well as gardening, canning and freezing her produce. Violet was well known for her large meals for visiting missionaries, hunters, field harvesters and extended family. She enjoyed making making homemade waffles and ice cream with her secret ingredient.

Violet touched many lives by writing letters and cards to family and friends. She remembered birthdays utilizing her birthday book that she started in the early 1950s. It has been said that between Violet and a close family friend and neighbor, the Forestburg Post Office was kept open longer due to their diligent letter writing..

Violet is survived by; son , Dan of Mitchell, two daughters: Gwen Johnson and husband, Ed, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Kristine Rhoads, Belleville, Illinois; three grandchildren; one great grandchild; numerous nieces, nephews and the many she considered family.

She is preceded in death by her husband, Francis: her parents, two sisters and two brothers.