Obituary of Jackie Carol Allen Rhodes

Jackie Carol Allen Rhodes, age 75, of Columbia, loving wife of Jack Lamar Rhodes, and mother to Alisa Marie Rhodes and Wendy Lenore Rhodes, joined her heavenly Father on February 16, 2023, as she was embraced by her family, her daughters and Buddy the cat by her side.

 

Jackie was born on February 15, 1948, in Albemarle, North Carolina, to Jack Allen and Carolene Efird Allen. Her family moved to Columbia when she was a young child. She attended Dreher High School and graduated in 1966. She married her high school sweetheart, Jack, shortly thereafter, and they remained married for 56 years.

 

Jackie was a passionate and accomplished performer, dancer, choreographer, and actress, and even tried her hand as a puppeteer. She was a dance instructor for over 40 years and was the Artistic Director for Lower Richland Community Education, where she taught the joy of dance to hundreds of children in the community.

 

She loved history and was particularly knowledgeable on the subject of South Carolina history. She first worked as a docent with Historic Columbia and later as their gift shop manager. She loved volunteering and leading Moonlight Cemetery Tours at Elmwood Cemetery. She was also a member of the Lower Richland Heritage and Genealogy Society.

 

Jackie loved all animals, books, chocolate, chicken dinners, making friends, University of South Carolina Gamecocks Women’s Basketball, Queen Elizabeth, the movie Halloween, musical theatre, visiting New York City, and walking on the beach collecting shells and shark’s teeth. She loved gardening, which she learned from her beloved Mamaw. Jackie was fun, inquisitive, and imaginative. She was interested in drawing, painting, poetry, and collecting. Music was very important and ever present in her life and she had an eclectic taste in music from Bob Seger to The Isley Brothers, Edith Piaf to Willie Nelson.

 

Jackie was a generous soul and gave freely to local charities. She was also known to give tap shoes and ballet shoes to students so that all children could participate in dance classes. 

 

Jackie is survived by her husband, Jack, and her daughters Alisa (fiancé Chris Faust) and Wendy (husband Houston Smith), brother, brothers- and sisters-in-law, nieces, nephews, cousins, countless friends, and “her girls” (you know who you are). 

 

Jackie Carol Allen Rhodes was a magnificent lady, and she will be missed by so many.

 

The family wishes to express their sincere gratitude to Jackie’s steadfast friend, Ann Posner, and to Stephanie Daniels, Linda Johnson, and Shameka Moore of Lighthouse Hospice. 

 

Services and a reception to celebrate her life will be held at Seibels House, 1601 Richland St., Columbia, South Carolina, on Sunday, March 26, 2023, at 1:00 PM. Family and friends are invited to attend. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Animal Protection League of South Carolina or Historic Columbia in her memory.