1941 â 2021
Joe was born in October 1941 in Cuero, TX to his father who shared his name, Joseph Stockton Rhodes and his mother, Roberta Lee Rhodes. His father worked for the Shell Oil Company and they moved a number of times throughout Texas and ultimately to Houston where Joe spent much of his early years and developed his life-long aversion to humidity.
Joe then moved with his family to Roswell, NM in 1957 (9th grade), where he attended Roswell High School and was a multi-sport star athlete lettering in football, basketball and track. His coaches called him âLittle Joe the Wranglerâ. More importantly, it was at Roswell High that he met the love of his life, Ellen Kay (Henderson) Rhodes, whom he married on September 8, 1962 and was married for 52 years, and had two children, before she passed following a courageous battle with Alzheimerâs Disease in 2014.
1941 – 2021
Joe was born in October 1941 in Cuero, TX to his father who shared his name, Joseph Stockton Rhodes and his mother, Roberta Lee Rhodes. His father worked for the Shell Oil Company and they moved a number of times throughout Texas and ultimately to Houston where Joe spent much of his early years and developed his life-long aversion to humidity. Joe then moved with his family to Roswell, NM in 1957 (9th grade), where he attended Roswell High School and was a multi-sport star athlete lettering in football, basketball and track. His coaches called him “Little Joe the Wrangler”. More importantly, it was at Roswell High that he met the love of his life, Ellen Kay (Henderson) Rhodes, whom he married on September 8, 1962 and was married for 52 years, and had two children, before she passed following a courageous battle with Alzheimer’s Disease in 2014. Joe often worked in the oil fields during summers and also once for the Kansas City Chiefs who held their summer camp at
MY EDMONDS NEWS Posted: December 12, 2020 1492
Shellabarger house in 1921 from the Edmonds Tribune-Review, Nov. 25, 1921. (Source: the newspaper collection at Sno-Isle Genealocal Society, Heritage Park, Lynnwood)
Recently, a reader commenting on my April 9, 2019 article, “Looking Back: South Snohomish County place names from the past,” asked how Shell Creek got its name?
In my reply to the reader’s question, I reached back to some of my own memories from well over 80 years ago, when I was a child of Edmonds before development of the land covered over portions of the creeks by piping their flow of water underground.
Of course, since Edmonds is a waterfront town with its creeks flowing into Puget Sound, it does seem logical to assume that the naming of Shell Creek is related to sea shells. However, I don’t recall the waterfront beach or the creeks of Edmonds having any noticeable or unusual shells, and question that the Shell Creek name came from that source.