Elizabeth Rhoads, 76, passed away Sunday, December 26, 2021.

Born at Wellington Hospital to Kansan farmers Byge and Edith Miller at the end of WWII, Elizabeth Joyce spent a childhood in Oxford filled with chores, play, books, and love. She was the youngest by 10 years and often tailed behind her sisters, Lila and Mary, and her brother, Gil. Their large, extended family and Edith's far flung social network meant she couldn't get away with a thing except the occasional theft of a comic book from the local drug store. At ten, the family moved to Erie, and at fourteen, Byge gave up farming and moved the family to San Antonio, TX, where Joyce was dismayed to learn girls weren't allowed to play full court basketball.

She graduated from Douglas MacArthur High School in 1963, attended Texas Woman's University, earning her nursing degree in 1967, and joined the US Navy. Her first assignment was St. Alban's Naval Hospital in New York. Once there, she met Lieutenant Commander Ted Rhoads when she brought a parking ticket to the security office to pay. He tore up the ticket and asked her on a date. He introduced her to Broadway musicals, and they collected Playbill programs. They were married in March 1968. The US Navy was enlightened enough to allow married women to continue to serve, but not once they became pregnant. With Ted sent to Vietnam, Joyce returned to San Antonio and continued working as a nurse. She gave birth to their first son, Jeffrey, in June 1969.

At the end of her husband's tour, they moved to Port Orchard, WA, where she bore their daughter, Robin, and their second son, James. On Ted's retirement from the Navy, they moved once more to San Antonio, where she worked at Baptist Memorial Hospital as a nursing educator, earned her Master's degree, and raised her children. Once their children had fledged, they moved again to Escondido, CA, where she continued working as a nursing educator and then found her dream job as a nurse at Disneyland. She worked there until retirement. After Ted's death, she and her daughter returned to Kansas, taking a home in Winfield, close to family and the world of her childhood. She suffered a catastrophic stroke and passed according to her wishes. The world is greatly diminished by her loss.

Stories of her wit, hard work, and compassion could fill the page and spill over, but the one lesson she stressed to others and built her life and her work around was very simple: be kind, as we never know what battles others are fighting.

She is survived by her children, her friends, her family, and the thousands of students and patients she helped in their own battles.

In lieu of flowers, please donate to your local food bank in Elizabeth's memory.

Memorial services will be held at 2:00 P.M., Saturday, January 1, 2022, at Grace United Methodist Church under the direction of Miles Funeral Service.

Elizabeth's memorial service was livestreamed by Grace United Methodist Church in Winfield.  The video can be found here: