When news of the passing of “Ramblin” Don Rhodes broke over the weekend, sad comments and prayers for his family circulated on social media.
Rhodes died Friday, according to an obituary released percy funeral director. This ended a life in which he touched every corner of the Augusta area with his wildly popular writing and community engagement.
A longtime entertainment columnist for The Augusta Chronicle, Rhodes resonates with readers by weaving his words through the city’s arts and entertainment scene in familiar ways. But Rhodes’ encounters with music and entertainment titans have spawned, by his own reckoning, thousands of stories. In his nearly 60-year career in journalism, he has done his best to say it all.
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Rhodes began his daily career as a teenager at the Atlanta Journal, standing away from the Beatles during a press conference before witnessing the band perform at Atlanta Stadium in 1965 The band is only 3 feet away. In 1967, he was on the evening police circuit in Savannah, covering murders, fires, gamblers and bootleggers. But he also wrote features, and his interview with Grand Ole Opry comedian Minnie Pearl developed a lifelong friendship. When Rhodes served a year in the U.S. Army in Vietnam, Pearl sent an autographed photo and a year’s subscription to the Music City News to his post overseas.
“Other soldiers in my barracks have pictures of sexy movie actress Raquel Welch in their metal lockers,” Rhodes wrote in 2014. “Mine has a picture of Minnie Pearl. Autographed photo.”
Wally Davis, the city editor of the Evening Post, invited him to start an entertainment column. It premiered on October 31, 1970 as “Rambling Rhodes,” but then a typesetter accidentally left out the “g,” leaving “Ramblin” stuck. Since then, the iconic rambler has appeared in The Chronicle, Augusta Good News, Augusta Magazine and many more publications.
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Over the years, Rhodes was linked to Dolly Parton and Johnny Cash, among many more great stars. But he also had a major local impact. Brenda Durant, executive director of the Greater Augusta Arts Council, described how he writes beautiful nominations for the arts awards, and oftentimes his nominees win.
“Honestly, it thrills me because Don is such a character that when he picks up the mic to introduce his winner, you just don’t want him to stop,” Durant said. “He’s just a thug, but Cares deeply about Augusta National and is a great storyteller.”
Mike Deas, owner of Augusta Amusements, highlights Don’s role in getting exposure to local events, such as their featuring country singer Collin Raye.
“I got in touch with Don, and he wrote an article about Collin Raye, of course, he had some history with Collin Raye, which he would always bring up in his articles, and how Collin Raye was originally It started at Bell Auditorium,” Dias said. “A lot of people read Don’s article, and once it hits the papers, you get exposure and your ticket sales go up because it’s Don and everyone is waiting every week to see what Don has to say.”
Rhodes has also authored several books, including Memories of His Longtime Friendship with Soul Legend James Brown and The Softer, Human Side of Former Augusta Resident Baseball Legend Ty Cobb. Here are the titles of his books:
- “Speak Out!: My Memories of James Brown, Soul Brother One”
- “Georgian Mysteries and Legends: True Stories of Unsolved Mysteries”
- “North Augusta: South Carolina’s Western Gateway: The Untold Story of a Little-Known Town”
- “Georgia Icons: 50 Classic Views of the Peach State”
- “A Legendary Local in Augusta Georgia”
- “Ty Cobb: Safe at Home”
- “Recreation and CSRA in Augusta”
- “Georgian Myths and Legends: The True Stories Behind Historical Mysteries”
He proved to be passionate about local history and research projects. Maxine Maloney of the Genealogical Society of Augusta recalls an instance in 2018 as they were packing up for a move from Broad Street when he found out about the marriage of a mystery woman Records and photos. Rhodes keeps questioning the woman until Maloney finally reveals that they don’t know who she is, but some members come across a friendly lady who shows up around the building, who does things to get attention and then disappears.
“Well, there is no doubt that Don was hooked and ready to find out the identity of this mystery lady,” Maloney wrote in an email. “Sure enough, Don arrived at our new location within a month and presented an old marriage certificate that was beautifully framed, padded and ready to hang. It also included a notebook with all of his research notes. We To his surprise, he found that Ms. Katie had survived and died a block away from the building at 1109 Broad Street. Our mystery lady has been found.”
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While Rhodes was unable to attend Augusta’s annual arts awards ceremony on Thursday, he was able to in spirit. Before he was set to honor a musician, Durant said, Rhodes had planned to show an amusing video featuring a preacher denouncing the sins of rock and roll. The video will still be played at Thursday’s ceremony.
In addition to the many colleagues and friends he has made over the years, Rhodes is also loved by his brothers Larry (Teresa) Rhodes and Doug (Bobbi) Spence, his sisters Linda Humphreys and Jan Rhodes (Jerry) Jarriel, and several nieces and nephews .
His life partner was Owen Edward “Eddie” Smith Jr., and his mother Ella Rhodes predeceased him; parents Ollen and Jean Swann Rhodes, sister Ann Rhodes Holland and brother Mike Spence.
A memorial service will be held at 11:00 a.m. June 24 at American Legion Post No. 71 in North Augusta, with visitations beginning at 10:00 a.m. Internships will be held at the Bellevue Memorial Gardens in Grovetown.
Those who want to honor Rhodes’ memory can also do so by supporting any animal humane society or shelter, any music school, historical society or veterans organization, according to his obituary.
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