Elma Rhodes was a gifted pianist. A music graduate of Union College and Emmanuel Missionary College, now Andrews University, she met John Wesley Rhodes while both were pursuing music at UC. They married in 1929 while studying music at EMC.

A skilled sight reader and teacher, Rhodes was able to assist her husband during their work at five academies: Bethel Academy, now Wisconsin Academy, Battle Creek Academy, and Lodi, Modesto, and Fresno academies in California. She taught piano in all of these schools and accompanied groups, her husband, Wesley, and other soloists, as needed.

Her accompanying skills were legendary. In the early 1940's, a blind xylophone performer lost his regular accompanist because of an emergency. Rhodes filled in on short notice, having only one chance to rehearse with him on music she was literally sight-reading. A reviewer, unaware of the circumstance, praised both the performer and the accompanist.

Elma provided input when her husband arranged A Song of Heaven and Homeland for choir, a number the choir eventually sang on the Voice of Prophecy radio broadcast during one of its tours. Many choir directors from across the country inquired about the arrangement and then purchased and performed it. It remains a favorite number when PUC alumni gather today.

When J. Wesley accepted an administrative position at Walla Walla College in 1962, their daughter, Carolyn, who had distinguished herself in graduate study in music at the University of Nebraska and Columbia University, moved there with them. She taught voice in the music department for two years, before leaving for more study and a distinguished career in music.

Following retirement in 1969, the Rhodeses moved to the Portland, Oregon - Vancouver, Washington, area. They resided outside of Vancouver near the end of their lives and attended the Washougal, Washington, SDA church where she filled in on the organ.

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