The Waupaca County Republican Party recognized Jack Rhodes, of Waupaca, with its 2011 Public Service Award at the Lincoln-Reagan Day dinner Sunday, Jan. 30, in New London.
In presenting the award, Weyauwega Mayor Don Morgan noted Rhodes’ long list of community service endeavors since retiring to Waupaca in 2002.
Rhodes is the founder and board chairman of the Waupaca Area Community Foundation. Established in 2003, the foundation now oversees 32 charitable funds established by families, businesses and organizations. Most of the funds are endowments that provide annual financial support to various causes in the community.
In the 2009-10 fiscal year, the foundation awarded nearly $180,000 in grants from its endowment funds and nearly $80,000 from its general fund to charitable and civic organizations serving people in the Waupaca area.
Rhodes is also board president of the Riverside Medical Center Foundation, founder and director of the Waupaca Duplicate Bridge Club and a board member of the Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region.
He is known throughout central Wisconsin for his lectures on classic American films. He has presented film series on Westerns, mysteries, the Civil War and other topics at the Waupaca Area Public Library, Lawrence University Bjorklunden Campus, and other locations.
As board member of Fox Valley Technical College and as board president from 2006-08, Rhodes was instrumental in building community support to build the new FVTC facility on Waupaca east side.
He has also been a board member of the Waupaca Historical Society and the Waupaca Area Chamber of Commerce, has served as president of Waupaca Breakfast Rotary Club and as a vestry member and capital campaign advisor for St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Waupaca.
Prior to coming to Waupaca, Rhodes was executive director of Miami University Hamilton Campus from 1995 to 2002. He was chairman of the Department of Communication for all Miami University campuses from 1992 to 1995. He also taught at Colorado College and the University of Utah. His academic focuses were argumentation, transportation history and the rhetoric of film.
Born in Seattle, Wash., in 1942, Rhodes earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of South Dakota in 1963 and his doctorate in 1966 from the University of Texas in Austin.