Our precious mother Rhoda Helene Glenwright Huber Beideman
passed to eternal life in the loving arms of Jesus on January 1, 2016.
Rhoda was the daughter of the late Heston and Margurite Glenwright; the stepdaughter of the late Frank Huber and stepdaughter of the late Harry Bisbing.
Rhoda was born on October 3, 1924 in Blossburg, Pennsylvania. Her father succumbed to diphtheria when she was only ten months old. Her mother entered nursing school at the Philadelphia Lying-In Hospital for a career in Nursing and a means to support her children. During that time, Rhoda and her siblings went to live with their grandparents Henry and Lena Glenwright in Tacoma Park, Maryland near Washington, D.C.. Rhoda's grandmother always told her about the time she took them to the annual Easter Egg Hunt on the White House lawn. There, President Herbert Hoover was enjoying watching the children hunt for Easter eggs when he noticed this adorable child with lots of lovely brown curls. He reached down and swooped Rhoda up into his arms and asked her Grandmother her name, and continued to hold little Rhoda during the rest of the hunt.
Rhoda and her siblings moved to Scranton, Pennsylvania to be reunited with their mother and stepfather Frank Huber, who was a professor at the International Correspondence School, where Bing Crosby was one of her stepfather's students. Rhoda revered her stepfather as a kindly man who loved and guided the children during their early childhood. Unfortunately he died when Rhoda was thirteen and the children were deeply saddened by the loss of their beloved stepfather, that she called Daddy.
When Rhoda was seventeen her mother married Harry Bisbing, the only grandfather Rhoda's children ever knew.
Rhoda and her family were active members of the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd in Scranton, but she often sang solos at Greenridge Presbyterian Church of the same city. She graduated from Scranton Central High School in 1942 and then moved to Ridley Park, Pennsylvania and then to Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania. She worked at Bendix Aviation during World War II and then for Railway Express, both in Philadelphia.
On January 25, 1947 she married the love of her life, Isaac H. Beideman Jr., at The Church of the Ascension in Claymont, Delaware, where Rhoda remained a member for 68 years.
Rhoda started her career as a Kelly Girl and then worked for 25 years doing patent research for the E.I. DuPont de Nemours and Company Central Research, from where she retired.
She enjoyed listening to Organ Music and Marching Bands, crocheting, reading, shopping and going to the beach. Most of all she loved and enjoyed being with her grandchildren.
Rhoda was preceded in death by her husband, Isaac H. Beideman, Jr.; Her parents, Heston and Margurite Glenwright; Grandparents Henry and Lena Glenwright and Benjamin and Anna Belle Mays; Her aunts: Mary Glenwright Robbins, Carol Glenwright Robbins; Her Uncles: Donald Mays and Dewayne Mays; Her brother, Rodney Glenwright Huber and sister, Ruth Glenwright Lowden.
Rhoda will be dearly missed by her daughter Sandra Lee Beideman Pierce (S. Gilbert, Jr.) and her son Donald Robert Beideman; five granddaughters: Stephanie Gail, Heather Lynn, April Ann, Melanie Sandra and Tiffanie Helene; four great-grandchildren: Edward Alexander, Andrew Pierce, Brooke René, and Pierce Cole; nieces: Jacqueline and Carolyn; and nephews: David and Rodney
An Episcopal Service with Eucharist will be offered at The Church of the Ascension, 3717 Philadelphia Pike Claymont, Delaware on Saturday, January 9, 2016 at 11 AM with interment in Chester Bethel Cemetery, 2619 Foulk Road, Wilmington, DE. In lieu of flowers, contribution can be sent to The Church of the Ascension Memorial Fund, 3717 Philadelphia Pike, Claymont, DE 19703 or Compassionate Care Hospice, 405 East Marsh Lane, Suite 4, Newport, DE 19804.
The family wishes to thank The Rev. Ketlen Solak, Rector, The Rev. Edwin Pease, Associate Rector, and the parish family for their love and prayers; Michelle, Aianna and all the nurses and doctors from Compassionate Care Hospice who tenderly cared for Rhoda.
Our mother always expressed that she was so grateful that her mother chose such loving stepfathers for her and her siblings, however she longed to know her own father, who died when she was a baby. We are certain that she knows him now and that they are all reunited together in their new life in Christ.