Dick Rhodes, 77, community grocer

Richard C. Rhodes was a man who gave back to his community.

But if you asked him, he would have said, "I'm just a grocer," said Gregg Hersholt, a friend for 20 years.

Mr. Rhodes died June 13 in Seattle after battling complications due to lung disease. He was 77.

"The thing that struck me about him was what an unassuming quiet guy he was, and yet he had a huge impact on helping thousands of people in the toughest time of their lives," said Hersholt, a morning news anchor on KIRO radio. "He took none of the credit for it. It wasn't about him."

After working for Associated Grocers, which his grandfather founded, Mr. Rhodes, who went by Dick, started his own supermarket chain called Food Markets Northwest. Today the chain consists of Queen Anne Thriftway, Admiral Thriftway in West Seattle and Queen Anne Thriftway at Proctor in Tacoma. While working at the stores, Mr. Rhodes saw the needs of the community. He saw the elderly come in to buy pet food, knowing that they had no animals to care for at home. Along with others in the community, he helped to create Queen Anne Helpline, an organization based on the idea of people helping people. It opened in 1982, and now serves and is funded by residents of Queen Anne, said director Patricia Sobeck. Today, it has an annual budget of more than $100,000 and pays for various expenses of those in need, ranging from a month's rent to shoes and school supplies.

It was Mr. Rhodes' dream for every Seattle community to have a similar organization, Sobeck said. Twenty years later, four more Helplines have opened in West Seattle, White Center, Magnolia and North Seattle.

The grocery business was a passion for him. He traveled to find the freshest produce, flowers or fish for his markets, said Terry Halverson, a longtime employee who eventually took over the business.

Halverson said that during one trip to Holland, Mr. Rhodes bought a pallet of fresh-cut flowers to ship back to his stores, not knowing that a pallet is much larger in Holland than it is in the United States.

"We ended up with more flowers than we knew what to do with," Halverson said. "We put them in the parking lot and had the biggest cut-flower sale you have ever seen."

Afterward, they noticed it was easier to get flowers from wholesalers when Mr. Rhodes proved they could sell much larger quantities of flowers than a florist ever could, he said.

Mr. Rhodes was awarded Grocer of the Year in 1983 and received the Mayor's Small Business Award in 1986. In retirement, he and his wife, Joni, kept busy golfing at the Rainier Golf & Country Club in Seattle and at their second home in Desert Hot Springs, Calif.

"I was only in his life for 21 years, and it just wasn't enough," she said.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by his daughter Melinda Wilker of Seattle, son Brian Rhodes of Puyallup, stepchildren Tom Williams of Astoria, Ore., Cindi Carpenter of Bellingham and Ken Williams of Gresham, Ore., and 10 grandchildren. He also is survived by his sister, Barbara Frederick of Seattle, brother Reg Rhodes of Cumming, Ga., and numerous nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his first wife, Patricia Hegman Rhodes.

A celebration of life service will be held in Seattle today at 1 p.m. at Bethany Presbyterian Church, 1818 Queen Anne Ave. N. Remembrances may be sent to Queen Anne Helpline, P.O. Box 9697, Seattle, WA 98109, West Seattle Helpline, 4517 California S.W., Seattle 98116 or Cancer Lifeline, 6522 Fremont Ave. N, Seattle, WA 98103.

Tricia Duryee: 206-464-3283 or tduryee@seattletimes.com