Leonard Don Rhoden

Leonard Don Rhoden passed away on June 8, 2025.

His parents at the time of his home birth on September 14, 1941 were: Louis Oscar Rhoden (1890-1957), and Evelyn Pearl Smith-Rhoden (1908-1983), Leonard was preceded in death by his father and mother, brother Louis Eugene Rhoden (1931-1984), and sister Rose Mary Rhoden-Tennyson (1938-2021), and first born son Leonard Don Rhoden Jr. (1963-2020).

Leonard Sr.attended Wichita Public Schools, and trained and served a 5 year enlistment in the US Army/Kansas Army National Guard 1960-1965. He entered the Industrial and Private Security fields beginning in 1969 in Kansas, at the old Wichita Hospital, and subsequently the Coleman Company, Gates Learjet, the Masonic Home of Kansas.

In 1978 he became entrepreneur of D & J Upholstery Shop in Valley Center, KS which closed in 1987. Later that same year he and his second family moved to Bentonville, AR where he was employed by Wal-Mart at the Home Office, and other company facilities in and around Bentonville.

While living in Arkansas (1987-2001), Leonard attended Bentonville Baptist Bible College, and also engaged in a course of study in freelance writing. He returned to Kansas as a single parent with his youngest son in 2001, continuing writing school and graduated in 2003. His first published article appeared in a world distribution magazine in 2003.

Survivors include his wife Lori Susan Wicks-Rhoden of Saskatchewan, Canada, daughter Dana Kristine Rhoden-Noel of Wichita, KS, and his five children from his second marriage to Janice Louise Penner: Shaun Eric Rhoden, Heather Elleen Rhoden-Cowan, Donice Marie Rhoden both of Newton, KS, Derrick Eugene Rhoden of Buhler, KS and Bryon Donovan Rhoden of Newton, KS.

Leonard’s church affiliation was Independent Baptist

Graveside services will be held at 10:00 a.m. Wednesday, June 11, 2025 Greenwood Cemetery in Newton, KS. Visitation will be 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday June 10, 2025 at Petersen Funeral Home.

Memorials may be made to Enoble Hospice and left with the funeral home.