John Rhodes Galbraith, age 103, slipped quietly into the presence of his Lord & Savior Jesus Christ on January 10, 2022 at his home in Bellingham, Washington surrounded by family.
He was born April 11, 1918 in Saxon, Washington to Audley A and Alura Spencer Galbraith.
Through Charles Knaus, a missionary with the American Sunday School Union, Rhodes, as he preferred to be called, accepted Jesus as his savior at Evangelistic Services held at the old Saxon school house when he was 11 or 12. Several years later he met the love of his life when a young lady Mr. Knaus brought from Concrete to help teach Vacation Bible Schools in Whatcom County, roomed with Rhodes’ sister Jean.
Rhodes graduated with the Class of 1936 from Mt. Baker High School. He served in the army from 1942-1946, stationed in Pecos, Texas and then in Europe at the end of World War II.
On July 30, 1948, he married Iva Ellison and built a home on Maleng Road, next door to where he grew up, where they lived until she passed away 49 years later.
During the Spring and Fall, Rhodes worked in the hills with various logging companies usually running bulldozers. In the Summer, he worked at home harvesting hay, cutting wood, and helping Iva with the garden. In the Winter, he was home to help his father put out hay for their herd of beef cattle.
Travel was a luxury, but Rhodes & Iva enjoyed a family vacation to Yellowstone National Park and a trip to Pecos, Texas to visit old friends from his army years. Once they took a cross-country Greyhound Bus trip from Seattle to Bangor, Main and another time they flew to Spain to visit family.
Rhodes and Iva were active members of First Baptist Church in Sedro Woolley for many years and founding members of Faith Baptist Church in Burlington. Rhodes taught the High School Sunday School class while Iva taught the 2 and 3 year olds and many Vacation Bible Schools in the Summer. They both sang in the choir and Rhodes served as a Deacon.
Six years after Iva passed away, Rhodes tried to reconnect with an old army friend Otto Zylstra, just to find that he had passed away, but that his widowed wife still lived in Bellingham. It didn’t take too many phone calls to strike up a friendship and on September 6, 2003, Rhodes and Shirley were married and he moved into her home in Bellingham. She adored him. The last year of their marriage, she was confined to a nursing home due to a fall and strokes that left her unable to walk. Rhodes was at her bedside every day, wheeling her to meals and helping to feed her; impressing the nursing staff with his loving servant heart and his homemade cookies, banana bread, and divinity fudge that he would often bring for them.
In 2008, a few months after Shirley passed away, Rhodes moved back to Acme to live with his daughter Lois (Don) Thorndike on the farm property where he resided until moving to the Solstice Senior Living Apartment complex in Bellingham three years ago.
Rhodes is survived by two daughters, Lois Thorndike (Fred) Koon of Phoenix, Arizona; and Eunice (Paul) Wingert of Bellingham, and Stepson John (Joanna) Zylstra of Bellingham; six grandchildren, 22 great grandchildren, plus step grandchildren and great grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by his parents, his wives, Iva and Shirley, his sister and brother-in-law Jean and Bruce Rothenbuhler, and son-in-law Don Thorndike.
A Celebration of Life Service, followed by light refreshments, will be held on Saturday, March 19, 2022 at 2 PM at Valley Community Church, 800 E Rio Vista Ave, Burlington, Washington 98233. Share your memories of Rhodes and sign the online guest register.
I feel honored and blessed to have known Mr. Galbraith for many years. I was good friends with his daughters and spent time as their house in Acme. He and my Father enjoyed sharing stories about life in the Valley. When my Father was at the nursing home where Shirley was, it was a ray of sunshine to see him and visit with him. He always had a warm greeting and smile and expressed his love of God. I went to his 100th birthday party and would see him from time to time. An amazing man.