Rhoda Louise Oyler of Trenton, Missouri, died on June 9, 2024, in Kansas City, Missouri.
She was born 101 years ago during a snowstorm in the Forks of the River near Trenton.
She survived that storm on March 19, 1923, and went on to survive many more of life’s challenges: the Great Depression, six months of wondering if her first husband, William Morris Robinson, was dead or alive while missing in action during World War II—later having him declared dead following his last mission as a tail gunner in Italy—droughts and floods on the farm, taking care of ailing relatives, and maybe most of all, dealing with her ornery little brother, Charles.
They learned to share what little they had. Hobos from the nearby train would beg at their door for a place to sleep or any scrap of food, even clabbered milk. Their mother would always find or create something, like a bean sandwich.
Rhoda appreciated what God gave her—growing up with her Davidson family, playing with her brother and their dog, Rex, frying chicken for Sunday dinner with her mother, Bertha, and fishing with her father, Frank. Time spent with neighbors playing cards, a new dress made from a flour sack, a mess of wild mushrooms, onions, or berries, and a warm fire in winter.
Rhoda and her husband, Clifford, raised their daughter Teresa on a farm in the same area where you would meet neighbors in the middle of the road and stop to visit, sing at church, and cook a tailgate meal for the field.
They saw nature’s wonders every day at home and traveled to 49 states, Canada, and Mexico to see a few more.
Rhoda had fond memories of her friends from Trenton schools and Chillicothe Business College, where she was a homecoming attendant, jobs in Kansas City and Trenton, the VFW Ladies Auxiliary, and Salem and First Baptist churches.
Her daughter, Teresa Oyler of Trenton, survives her.
Her husband, Clifford Verne Oyler; father, Frank Davidson; mother, Bertha Lee Hein Davidson; and brother, Charles Hein Davidson, preceded her in death.
Rhoda did not want a service but asked for any donations in her memory to be made to Green Hills Animal Shelter, 3041 E. 10th St., Trenton, MO 64683. Donations can be handled by Slater Neal Funeral Home, 813 Custer St., Trenton, MO 64683.
