Isle of Wight County Virginia USGenWeb Archives Obituaries.....Rhodes, G. Earl, 1956 

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Tom Rhodes, 24, Drowning Victim At Burnt Mills 

Second Within Past Week in Isle of Wight 

  Gibson Earl (Tom) Rhodes, 24, of Windsor, an employee of Planters Nut and 
Chocolate Company in Suffolk, was drowned yesterday afternoon about 3:30 near 
here in Burnt Mills lake in Isle of Wight County. 

  According to Isle of Wight County Sheriff Harold Taylor, Tom, as the victim 
was generally called, was on the bank of the lake and his brother, Russell, 
and brother-in-law, Harvey Sightler, of Suffolk, were out in a boat. 

  Tom, the sheriff reported, attempted to swim out to the boat but apparently 
encountered difficulty about 25 feet off shore and went down in about 20 feet 
of water. 

  Volunteer searchers probed the water with long poles and other make-shift 
dragging devices from about 3:30 to 9:10 last night when the body was finally 
found by Daniel Whitley, a volunteer searcher from Windsor. 

  Army divers from the Fort Eustis Rescue Squad had been called, but the 
request was cancelled before they could arrive.  Firemen from Windsor and 
Smithfield aided in the search and Sheriff Taylor gave praise to the efforts 
of Jimmy Everett, of the Home Telephone Company in Smithfield and to Earl 
Kello, captain of the Windsor volunteer fire squad for their help. 

  The sheriff said that F.I. Steel, Isle of Wight County coroner, had not 
issued a certificate on the cause of death and that the drowning was still 
being investigated. 

  The body was taken to the W.J.M. Holland and Sons Funeral Home in Franklin, 
pending funeral arrangements. 

  The son of Charles E. Rhodes, of Windsor, and the late Gertie Bell Holland, 
of Isle of Wight County, he is survived, besides his father, by one brother, 
Russell; two sisters, Mrs. Katherine Sightler, of Suffolk, and Mrs. Howard 
Bowden, of Windsor; three nieces and two nephews. 

  The drowning was the second in Isle of Wight County within a week.  A 15-
year-old Franklin Negro, Calvin Silvers, was drowned in the Blackwater River 
just outside the town limits of Franklin the previous Saturday. 

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Gibson Earl Rhodes Drowns In I-W County Lake 

  Gibson Earl Rhodes, 24, employee of Planters Nut and Chocolate Company of 
Suffolk, drowned Saturday, May 19, about 3:30 P.M. near Burnt Mills Lake in 
Isle of Wight County. 

  According to Isle of Wight County Sheriff Harold Taylor, Tom, as he was 
generally called by his associates, was on the bank of the lake and his 
brother, Russell, and brother-in-law Harvey Sightler, of Suffolk, were in 
the boat. 

  Tom, as the report said, attempted to swim out to the boat but apparently 
encountered some difficulty about twenty-five feet off shore and went down 
in about twenty feet of water. 

  Rhodes was the son of Charles E. Rhodes of Windsor, and the late Gertie 
Belle Rhodes of Isle of Wight County. 

  Besides his father, he is survived by two sisters, Mrs. Howard Bowden, of 
Windsor, and Mrs. Katherine R. Sightler, of Suffolk; one brother, Russell 
Rhodes of Windsor, three nieces and two nephews.  The body was taken to the 
funeral home of W.J.M. Holland and Sons of Franklin, where funeral services 
were held Tuesday at 3 P.M. by Rev. William A. Grissom, pastor of the Windsor 
Christian Church.  Burial was in Colosse Baptist Church Cemetery. 


Gibson Earl "Tom" RHODES, of near Windsor, Planters employee, 
b. 22 May 1931, Isle of Wight Co., drowned 19 May 1956, Lake Burnt Mills, 
interred in Colosse Baptist Church Cemetery*, Collosse, 22 May 1956, 
"Suffolk (VA) News-Herald," Vol. 34, No. 120, Sun., May 20, 1956, p. 1; 
"Smithfield (VA) Times," Vol. 32, No. 52, Thurs., May 24, 1956, p. 3 

*Additional information: 

Isle of Wight County Historical Society {IWCHS} 
   Grave Site Survey Task Force {GSSTF} report #44: 
   http://www.iwchs.com/Cemetery-Reports.html 

A photo of his grave marker - added by Ron Stewart - is posted with 
   Find a Grave Memorial #110775564, which gives "Rom," not "Tom." 

His parents are also buried there. 

D.Cert. 12499 (Newport #1) 


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