Rhona Whitfield

Rhona was born on June 3rd 1936, in Widnes, in the county of Lancashire in Northwest England. Widnes was an industrial town similar to Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania. 

She was born of Welsh ancestry to proud parents - Arthur and Alice Jones, and was their only child. In 1939 when Rhona was just 3 years old, the Second World War broke out. During the war, her parents would carry her to the local air raid shelters to take cover from German bombers that prematurely released bombs in the area. 

As a child, Rhona longed to have a little brother or sister, but much to her dismay, her parents had no more children. She often thought about having a big family of her own one day. 

Rhona grew up in a terraced house. The house was one of three that shared connecting walls and stood together in a row. The houses had large gardens that backed on to the only park in town. Her father had a heated greenhouse where he grew tomatoes and other vegetables. She loved gardening and used to help her dad during the planting and harvesting seasons. Her aunties and uncles lived in the two connecting houses next door. 

Rhona attended Farnworth primary school in Widnes, until she was eleven years old, then she won a scholarship to attend the Wade Deacon High School. It was at this school that she would eventually meet her future husband Ted. 

The Wade Deacon was directly across the street from her house. Of course because she lived so close, one would think that she would have been early for school every day - guess what - not true, she was always late! 

Rhona loved geography and history, but her favorite subject was Art. She always had a creative streak and passed her artistic skills on to both her daughters. 

After leaving school at the age of 16, Rhona started working for the world's largest chemical company during that time period. 

She was trained to be a Tracer. Tracer’s took draftsmen’s diagrams and turned them into legible engineering drawings. She did this work for four years, until she resigned because of the strain on her eyes. Rhona’s soon-to-be husband Ted was an engineering apprentice for the same company but in a different location. 

Rhona and Ted were married on the 17th of August, 1957 at St Ambrose Church of England. Ted had been a member of the choir for St Ambrose as a boy whilst Rhona and her family attended St Lukes in nearby Farnworth. 

They purchased their first home which had originally been Rhona’s Aunts house. After a year of their marriage, the first of four children - Paul, was born, followed over the years by Jane, Gary, and Julie. 

While raising four children, Rhona attended night school at Manchester University and after 8 years of study, she earned her bachelor’s degree. 

However busy Rhona kept herself with her studies, her family always came first. Paul and Jane, her two eldest children remember their mum making fancy dress costumes for them when they were little. The costumes were so creative and well made that they won first prize in the school costume competitions on more than one occasion! 

Gary remembers what a good cook his Mum was. He looked forward to dinnertime every night because her meals so were so delicious and hearty. Julie remembers having birthday parties as a child and her mum would make cakes from scratch. The table would be full of goodies! Her mum would help the kids play party games like pass the parcel and musical chairs. 

Rhona loved her husband Ted and lucky for him, she also loved to travel! She would have followed him to the ends of the earth if necessary, which she did on three occasions during their lives together. They first moved to the island of Trinidad, in the Caribbean for Ted’s job in 1968. He fondly remembers that Rhona loved to look out the kitchen window where she could see the distant mountains of Venezuela beyond the ocean. 

After two years in Trinidad, Ted and Rhona returned to England, but got itchy feet again several years later. At 45 years old, they immigrated to the U.S. with their two youngest children in tow. Paul and Jane were adults at the time and stayed in England to forge lives of their own. 

Rhona and Ted settled in Littleton where they lived for several years. During this time, Rhona worked as a Bookkeeper for an interior design company. The job fit her perfectly because she was so meticulous about balancing her own checkbook right down to the penny. Her Job was located next door to an old horse racing track, and she enjoyed seeing the horses exercise every day. 

After six years in Littleton, they moved to their forever home in the beautiful Colorado foothills but it wasn’t long before they put their home up for rent to go on another adventure for Ted’s job which landed them in Saudi Arabia. 

 To keep herself busy and active while Ted worked, Rhona would walk their dog every day on the white sand beach and collect seashells. During this time, she also honed her oil painting skills and painted many scenes. Rhona and Ted were avid badminton players and played competitively while they lived in the Middle East. They continued to play in competitions after returning to the U.S. five years later. 

Life slowed down a little after their return to Colorado. Rhona spent quiet days watching the birds and local wildlife from the windows of their home in the foothills. She was an avid animal lover and gave a good home to several dogs and cats and even a few rabbits over the years. Tasha was the last dog that Rhona and Ted would take in. She was a well behaved sheepdog and brought them both so much joy. 

Besides her love for all creatures great and small, Rhona loved to travel with Ted. She especially enjoyed cruising and international travel. They visited dozens of places around the globe, and lived in four different countries over the course of their lives together. 

During her life and marriage, Rhona devoted herself to her husband and family. Together they had four children, eight grandchildren, and two great grandchildren. The descendants of Ted and Rhona live all over the world now. Rhona continued to travel well into her 80’s to visit family members living in England and Australia. 

Rhona will be remembered as a loving wife, mum, and Nana. Her dedication to her family and her pets was remarkable. She meant the world to them all and will be dearly missed. 

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