Lifelong Las Vegas volunteer, CCSD school namesake dies at 94

Betsy Rhodes, a prolific volunteer in Las Vegas and the namesake of a Clark County elementary school, died Saturday. She was 94.

Rhodes was known for her roles leading a variety of civic groups and community projects in support of children’s welfare and education. The Clark County School District named a school in Centennial Hills in her honor in 1998.

“She did so much civic work in Las Vegas, she deserved a name,” said Jim Rhodes, son and developer of Rhodes Ranch in the southwest Las Vegas Valley. “They were naming schools after architects or engineers, people who had been working for the Clark County or other public work types — basically being paid by the government. And every bit of work she did was all volunteer.”

Betsy Rhodes’ life in Las Vegas began in 1958, when she and husband, Leonard Rhodes, moved to the area. Rhodes had grown up in Sacramento as the daughter of the founders of ski resort Peddler Hill in the northern Sierra Nevada. The couple met while studying at San Jose State University, and she worked as an elementary school teacher, supporting her husband while in dental school at Marquette University in Wisconsin.

Grandson Michael Rhodes said he loved talking about the historic events she witnessed in her life. He recalled she was “terrified” by the atomic mushroom clouds produced at the Nevada Test Site.

Beyond history and community, Michael Rhodes remembers his grandmother as “the funny person that passed on the funny genes to everyone else” while teaching her children and grandchildren her values.

“She instilled responsibility in me in a really young age,” he said, recalling ski trips to the Lake Tahoe area, where his grandparents had a second home. “I got to fly on Southwest. My mom would drop me off at the airport, and my grandma would pick me up in Reno’s airport.”

Service League roots

In Las Vegas, she quickly got involved in the community with the Clark County Women’s Dental Auxiliary, leading her to friends and a lifetime of service work in Southern Nevada.

She got involved in, and eventually became president of, the Service League of Las Vegas, a women’s community organization that implemented community service projects with the goal of turning them over to the community. The group became a Junior League affiliate in 1971.

In an oral history interview with the Junior League of Las Vegas in February 2011, Betsy Rhodes said the group’s service projects came about by identifying new problems in the growing city, then creating a service project that could be handed off to another nonprofit or government agency.

“We all wanted Las Vegas to be a good city, a place where people wanted to come, visit and live — and becoming a Junior League would help achieve that,” Betsy Rhodes said.

The group gave her a lifetime achievement award in 2009.

Linda Givens, a Junior League member with Betsy Rhodes, said they worked together on Junior League’s Bear Project, a gift-giving effort during Christmastime. She remembers Betsy Rhodes as a dedicated community member and a committed mother and grandmother who loved to play bridge and go to Bible study class.

“She was a very hard worker in this community and really gave a lot of her time,” Givens said.

Community work honored

Betsy Rhodes later became a founding member and president of the Assistance League of Las Vegas — now known as Assisting Lives in Las Vegas — where one of her most significant accomplishments was Operation School Bell. The still-running program gives elementary and middle school CCSD students new clothing through referrals.

“She thought all these other students should have opportunities their children had,” Jim Rhodes said. “They started a program to get new shirts, new pants, new shoes, (for) children that didn’t have the financial wherewithal (so) they wouldn’t get picked on being poor kids with holes in their shoes and pants.”

School district officials mourned her death in a Wednesday statement.

“The District is saddened to hear of the passing of educator and CCSD school namesake Betsy Rhodes,” CCSD Superintendent Jhone Ebert said. “She spent the majority of her life advocating for students, making sure they had the resources needed to succeed in the classroom. We are proud to have Betsy Rhodes Elementary School to remind us of our most important focus: the students.”

Betsy Rhodes died at her home in Las Vegas. She is survived by sons Dr. Steve Rhodes, a local prosthodontist; developer Jim Rhodes; and Dr. John Rhodes, president and CEO of Optum Nevada and Southwest Medical, as well as eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by husband Leonard and sister Maryln Atanosoff.

A celebration of life will be held at 11 a.m. on Nov. 1 at Canyon Ridge Christian Church, according to a family statement.

Contact McKenna Ross at mross@reviewjournal.com. Follow @mckenna_ross_ on X.