Quivea Franklin-Rhodes

Quivea Franklin was born on September 11, 1952 to Ralph and Izora Franklin. She was the eldest of their four children. Quivea grew up on the East Side of Detroit, MI. She attended Detroit Public Schools including Pierce Elementary, Grant Junior High and Osborn High School (Class of 1970). During her High School years, Quivea was a very studious and adventurous young lady. She took flying lessons at Detroit City Airport where she was a student pilot. Quivea had also planned to sky dive one day as her father did. After High School Quivea, attended Detroit Business Institute where she graduated with honors. Quivea was employed by Boise Cascade, Excel Corp and then later with General Dynamics where she worked for 9 years before making the decision to move to Colorado. After moving to Colorado, she worked for Continental Airlines along with Martin Marietta at the same time. Her love for family and travel gave her the drive to work both companies to allow her to visit her family often. She continued her education in Colorado attending Regis College and obtained her bachelors degree. She then continued to receive her Master degree also. Between working and going to school, Quivea wanted to enrich her life more. So she looked into adopting and decided to adopt a son. Then on June 1, 2000 Quivea became a proud mother of a son named Brandon. She was so happy. He was her joy. Quivea was the greatest and most loving mother to Brandon. As time went on, she met a wonderful man named Al Rhodes, an engineer in electronics. They were united in marriage on June 29, 2002. Quivea's life was full with this union and with her son Brandon. She also was blessed by getting four bonus sons through her marriage, Al Jr., Dwayne, Kenneth, Jerron. They also added so much joy to her life. Quivea eventually retired from her part time job with Continental Airlines after 10 years. She enjoyed working there because it allowed her to visit what was near and dear to her heart…her family and friends. She also loved to travel and see the world, so she enjoyed the benefits from it until her health prevented her from doing so. Quivea enjoyed camping, family get together, church functions and loved life and all it had to offer. The sky was the limit for Quivea. In 2005, she got news the news of her cancer. In addition, from that day till the end she chose to live strong. She was courageous and a fighter. She never gave up and never let anything get her down. She kept her strong faith in God throughout all her illness. She continued to work at Martin Marietta and enjoyed it in spite of the demands that her job required of her or of her health issues. She was a dedicated employee. She had always looked forward to coming back to work again but her illness didn't allow that to happen. Quivea truly loved and treasured family. Quivea loved her church where she attended regularly with her family until she was unable to. God truly blessed her there and it enriched her spirit. To know Quivea..Is to love Quivea. A woman who will never be forgotten.