Rhoda Chichester: A life on the land

Carson Valley native Rhoda Chichester, whose love of the land never led her far from home, died Dec. 29 of complications from heart surgery. She was 81.

More comfortable in plaid shirts and faded dungarees than a fancy dress, Chichester was the third and last generation of her family to ranch 220 acres that is now home to Chichester Estates.

"She was born and married in that farm house and lived there until her 70s," said her daughter-in-law Monica Chichester.

Sons Ross and Robert Chichester said their mother was always happier outside working the ranch side by side with her parents, and then her husband Bob.

"My grandmother did the house work and cooking and cleaning, making sure our home work was done," Ross Chichester said.

"But Rhoda could fix a baler, she learned to drive a team of horses when she was 6. She was always taking care of the animals."

Rhoda Jean Jacobsen was born on the ranch Aug. 7, 1925.

She graduated from Douglas County High School in 1943 with a group of classmates who still meet once a month for lunch.

"We were friends ever since we started grammar school," said Marcella Oxoby. "I guess we were such a small community we all were just friends and did things kids did in those days."

In the era of party lines, Oxoby said she and Chichester and friend Janet Godecke did their high school homework over the telephone.

"We knew each other's rings, and every night, we would do our homework over the phone."

Oxoby said Chichester was a formidable high school basketball player.

"When she threw the ball at you, it was with such force, you didn't know if you should duck or catch it," Oxoby said.

Ross Chichester said his mother's only long absence from Carson Valley was 1944-46 when she enlisted in the Marine Corps.

"She lied about her age and joined up," he said. "She was stationed at Camp Pendleton in special services. She helped put together shows that entertained the troops. That was the only time she was away."

When Chichester came home, she went back to work on the ranch which she and her parents bought from other relatives.

They raised cattle, alfalfa, and hay for the livestock.

In the summer of 1947, she met her future husband Bob Chichester at a cattle drive at the Little Walker Cattle Range. They married in 1949.

"She didn't have a picture taken at her wedding and always told us that for her honeymoon, she went out and changed the water," Monica Chichester said.

The town of Gardnerville continued to spring up around the ranch and the family made the decision to sell in the mid-1990s.

"It was a hard decision for the whole family, but they really didn't have a choice," Bob Chichester said.

Neighbors complained they didn't like the smell of the animals and the wet fields. Or they didn't want their children watching the bulls among the cows.

"Neighbors' dogs were always getting in our fields, chasing the cows," Ross Chichester. "We had trouble getting water from the river and couldn't keep the kids out of the irrigation ditches. The liability insurance was enormous.

"It got to the point where the ranch was too close to the town that surrounded it."

Rhoda and her husband lived on the ranch until 1998 when they built a house in East Valley.

Bob Chichester died suddenly of a massive heart attack shortly after they moved in and Rhoda eventually came to live in Minden with Ross Chichester.

"To her, Minden was 'the city,'" Ross said. "She made lots of friends, but she wanted to go walk in the dirt, not on the sidewalk."

Whenever she felt too constrained by the sidewalks and paved roads in Mackland, Chichester loaded up her dog and headed to Robert and Monica's property in East Valley where she spent hours walking the land.

Chichester was honored in 2003 by the Carson Valley Historical Society Women in History Remembering Project.

"I've heard her called a pioneer," Monica Chichester said. "She set her own mark. She was a very, very hard worker. I told Bob when we got married that if was looking to marry someone like his mother, he picked the wrong woman."

Ross Chichester said his mother was a first and formost a farmer.

"She left a mold of what a woman would have done in those days who was not a housewife."

They laughed as they recalled her kitchen disasters.

"She had this philosophy about cooking. She worked outside as late as she could because she would never waste any daylight. Then she couldn't understand why if a roast cooked at 350 degrees for two hours, you couldn't cook it for one hour at 500 degrees," Ross Chichester said.

"She didn't want to be in the house," he said. "That wasn't important to her. But she knew how to fix anything and what was wrong with an animal. It was in her blood. Farming was in her blood."

A memorial service is set for 11 a.m. Saturday at Carson Valley United Methodist Church with a reception to follow in the Fellowship Hall.

In addition to her sons and daughter-in-law, Chichester is survived by a brother of Fallon, three grandchildren, a great-granddaughter and numerous nieces and nephews.

Donations in her name may be made to the Carson Valley Historical Society, 1477 Highway 395 N., Gardnerville, NV 89410.

DETAILS

A memorial service for Carson Valley native Rhoda Chichester is set for 11 a.m. Saturday at Carson Valley United Methodist Church, 1375 Centerville Lane, Gardnerville, with a reception to follow in the Fellowship Hall.

Donations in Chichester's name may be made to the Carson Valley Historical Society, 1477 Highway 395 N., Gardnerville, NV 89410.