Geraldine “Jerry” Rhoad (Hodge) Lanham

Geraldine “Jerry” Rhoad Lanham, of the Hunters Chapel Community, passed away on Friday, October 09, 2020.  Born on January 28, 1931 in Mountain City, TN to Boone Franklin and Annie Wilson Hodge, she remained in Mountain City to graduate high school there; even after her entire family moved to Oxford, Pennsylvania.  After high school, she enlisted in the United States Air Force and graduated from Arizona State University.  While attending Arizona State University, she met and married Ned B. Rhoad, Jr, and they had four sons.  Every summer, she would load up all four boys and drive them from South Carolina to Pennsylvania to see her family, and inevitably get lost twenty miles from home and call them for directions.  She often remarked she would not let any of her children attend college out west because “once you go out west, you’ll never want to come back home.”  She was a high school English teacher, having taught for 32 years at several schools, including Hillcrest High School in Dalzell, SC, Denmark-Olar, Edisto, and St. George, and was known to give writing cramps to many teenagers in her day.  Later in life she would marry J.P. Lanham and start on a whole new series of adventures with him, splitting their time between Hunters Chapel and Santee.  Jerry was a member of Hunters Chapel Baptist Church, the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks-Orangeburg chapter, and taught Sunday School for many years after her retirement.

Jerry was preceded in death by her husband, J.P. Lanham; her parents, Boone and Annie; her sisters, Ruby Graybeal, Fern Graybeal, Mae Grindstaff, and Bonnie Jones; her three brothers,  infant Blaine Hodge, infant Joseph Hodge, and William Stacy Hodge.  She is survived by her four sons, Ned B. Rhoad, III (Dusty) of Bamberg, Don (Becky) Rhoad of Bamberg, Alan (Connie) Rhoad of Summerton, Bryan (Paula) Rhoad of Bamberg; nine grandchildren, Ashley Rhoad Jolley, Chris Rhoad, Lucas Rhoad, Aaron Rhoad, Brock Rhoad, Melissa Rhoad, Meghan Rhoad Hutto, Madison Rhoad Lucas, and Morgan Rhoad and six great-grandchildren.

A graveside service will be held on Monday, October 12, 2020 at Hunters Chapel Baptist Church, 9375 Hunters Chapel Road, Bamberg, at 1:00 P.M. Rev. Alvin Jeffcoat and Rev. Donnie Delk will be officiating the service.  

Her grandchildren who are honored to serve as Pallbearers will be Lucas Rhoad, Aaron Rhoad, Brock Rhoad, Chris Rhoad, Shawn Jolley, David Hutto and Sam Lucas.

Memorials may be made to Hunters Chapel Baptist Church at 9375 Hunters Chapel Road, Bamberg, S.C. 29003.

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