Obituary: Genevieve Rhines

Genevieve Rhines of Winter Park died Feb. 14, 2016, well into her 100th year.

She was born June 25, 1916 in Magnolia, Ohio. Her parents were Ralph Downes and Winona Elliott Downes. She grew up on the family farm, the eldest of six children. After graduating from a one-room schoolhouse, she went on to Ohio State University, earning a Bachelor’s degree and teaching high school English before marrying Hugh Webber. After her mother’s death in 1941, Genevieve helped her younger siblings as much as possible, while starting her own family. She and Hugh settled on Long Island where she devoted herself to raising their five children and contributing to a number of community affairs, including the founding of the Garden City Cooperative Nursery School. In 1958 the family moved to Winter Park. Genevieve completed her master’s degree at Rollins College and later moved to Gainesville where she completed her PhD in special education at the University of Florida and became the head of special education for Marion County. In Gainesville she met her second husband, Dr. Frederick N. Rhines, a professor emeritus at UF. They shared a passion for travel and happily explored the world together. Genevieve also focused great effort on Downes, Elliott and Webber genealogy. Her favorite events were family reunions. After Fred’s death, she moved back to Winter Park, residing at Winter Park Towers until her death.

Genevieve is survived by her daughters Winona Hocutt (husband Robert) of Salisbury, Md.; Beverley Pattison (husband Michael) of Shaftesbury, England; Janet Kathleen Reynolds of Charleston, S.C.; her son Douglas Webber of Cheyenne, Wyo.; her stepdaughter Margaret Di Negro of Gainesville, Fla.; and her stepson, Walden Rhines (wife Paula) of Portland, Ore. Her son Hugh E. Webber III died in 2015. Genevieve is also survived by her sister Erma Darling of Marina Del Rey, Calif., eight grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren and many nieces and nephews. Her memorial will take place at 3 p.m. Saturday, March 19, at Westminster Winter Park to celebrate the life of an outstanding and much-loved woman.