Springfield-Greene
County LibraryEarly and Recent History and Genealogical Records
of Many of the Representative Citizens
CLARENCE J. RHODES. The life of the average man of affairs today is spent amidst so much bustle and hurry and worry that he often imagines he can find but little time to devote to books, recreation, retrospection; and there are many who hardly ever open a book, seldom spend a day in the woods communing with nature, who content themselves with the dull routine of the daily drudge, and who never lose themselves in prose or poetry or fiction, in science, art or history. Perhaps one of the most busy men who lived in the past century was William E. Gladstone; yet he was one of the best informed and most deeply read men in Europe. The same may be said in America of Theodore Roosevelt. Such men do their work better because they come to it with minds refreshed and strengthened, and they move under the heavy load of the world's affairs with ease and grace and dignity because they hear things that other ears are deaf to and see upon all things a light to which untaught eyes are blind. Clarence J. Rhodes, of Springfield, is one of our citizens who takes a delight in keeping up with current events and investigating the various realms of learning, having never permitted himself to become wholly absorbed with his daily tasks, therefore he is not only happier but does his work better than if he ignored his tastes for culture.
Mr. Rhodes was born at Zinc, Arkansas, February 1, 1887. He is a son of Eugene J. Rhodes, Sr., a well-known man of affairs, formerly of northern Arkansas, now of Springfield, a complete sketch of whom will be found on other pages of this work.
The subject of this sketch received a practical education in the high school and Springfield Normal, having come to this city with his parents when he was a child. After leaving school he went to St. Louis with a bonding company, where he remained until in February, 1907, when he returned to Springfield and went to work for the Kansas City, Clinton & Springfield Railroad Company as assistant ticket accountant or statistician, then became revising clerk, joint freight accountant and voucher clerk, and at present he is bookkeeper, with offices in the Woodruff building. He has given eminent satisfaction in all the above named positions, being alert, painstaking, energetic and trustworthy.
Mr. Rhodes was married on July 30, 1908, in Springfield, to Stella I. Sanders, who was born in Billings, Missouri. She is a daughter of J. W. and Elizabeth T. (Tipper) Sanders, both natives of England, from which country they came to the United States in early life. The father is now deceased, but the mother is making her home in Springfield. Mrs. Rhodes was given good educational advantages.
To our subject and wife two children have been born, namely: Warrena. L., born July 14, 1909; and Richard J., born November 20, 1911.
Politically, Mr. Rhodes is a Republican, and fraternally he belongs to the Knights of Pythias.
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