Marianne Rhoades Pittman, 94, of Dublin, Ohio, died March 15, 2025, in her home.Marianne Rhoades Pittman, 94, of Dublin, Ohio, died March 15, 2025, in her home.
She was born July 12, 1930, a daughter of Paul and Orpha Benton Rhoades, the youngest of four children. She married the late Robert “Bob” Pittman on July 24, 1955, in Astoria. They have three children and four grandchildren by birth, Oralea Anne Pittman of Hilliard, Ohio; Paul Arthur Pittman (Julie Levenson) of Woodside, Calif., and their daughters, Allison and Catherine; and Rhonda Pittman Gingrich (Mark) of Minneapolis, Minn., and their daughters, Sophia and Addison. Marianne and Bob’s family was enlarged and enriched by An and the late Hoa Tran, Vietnamese refugees who adopted them as their mother and father and gave them two more grandchildren, Huy Tran (Shama Patari) and Linda Lopez (Jorge), who then gave them five great-grandchildren, Arjun and Krish and Lucas, Liliana and Lania.
Surviving are one sister-in-law, Elizabeth (Pittman) Gramm of Madison, Tenn., and numerous nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by one sister, Nelda (Rhoades) Eikenberry; and two brothers, Benton and Robert “Bob” Rhoades and their spouses.
She graduated from Astoria High School and Manchester College (Indiana) with a B.S. in Secondary Education with an emphasis in home economics. As a teenager, she sang in a trio with two friends that performed at community events and even on the radio. While at Manchester, she had the opportunity to work on research around the development of rayon.
As a young woman, she taught home economics in Illinois and Kansas. She was active in the Church of the Brethren, holding various leadership positions at the local, district and denominational level. While raising their family, she and Bob lived in Champaign, where they were members of the Champaign Church of the Brethren and she served students at the University of Illinois as campus minister, coordinated the International Hospitality Committee for the university, and volunteered with the Champaign/Urbana crisis hotline. Later in life she served as a pastor in Illinois and Virginia. For many years, she worked alongside her husband with the Church of the Brethren Disaster Ministries where they served in many states directing the recovery work of volunteers. Her background in home economics and her love of cooking served her well as she managed administrative tasks and prepared meals for the volunteers.
She and Bob served as trainers for other project directors and served as Co-Interim Directors of Brethren Disaster Ministries from January to June 1999. At the time of her death, she was a member of Oak Grove Church of the Brethren in Roanoke, Va., although while living in Astoria late in life she attended Woodland Church of the Brethren.
Services will be held at 10 a.m. Friday at Shawgo Memorial Home in Astoria with Reverends Tim Harvey and Carol Elmore officiating. Visitation will take place from 5-7 p.m. Thursday and beginning at 9 a.m. on Friday at the funeral home. Burial will be in the Woodland Cemetery, Astoria.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials be made to the Brethren Disaster Ministries, 601 N. Main, PO Box 188, New Windsor, MD 21776-0188 or Camp Emmanuel, 14999 Reservoir Road, Browning, IL 62624.
Condolences may be sent to www.shawgomemorialhome.com.
Current Obituaries in the Astoria South Fulton Argus