Frances “Frankie” Hayden Rhodes

August 28, 1939 – January 15, 2021

Frankie Rhodes, a loving wife, mother, grandmother and historic preservationist, passed away peacefully on January 15, 2021 at Alta Bates Hospital in Berkeley, Calif., surrounded by her loved ones after a long illness.

The Piedmont resident was known throughout the Bay Area’s historic preservation community, having served more than five decades as a founding member of the CamronStanford House Preservation Association (CSHPA), which was charged with the restoration of the last of the 19th-century Victorian mansions that once surrounded Lake Merritt in Oakland. Frankie helped raise more than $800,000 in capital and gifts-in-kind to restore the city-owned building for the community in the early 1970s. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972 and is cited by the Historic American Building Survey, the California Landmarks Committee and is a City of Oakland landmark. CamronStanford House opened to the public in May 1978 and has remained a teaching institution serving Oakland and the greater Bay Area. In addition to her work with CSHPA, she was also active in the Junior League of the East Bay, Decorative Arts Forum, Art League of the East Bay, Oakland Museum docent program, Victorian Alliance and Victorian Society.

Born at UCSF on Parnassus Hill to the late Dr. Charles Thomas Hayden and Margaret Nichols Hayden on August 28, 1939, Frankie grew up in San Francisco, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, Oakland and Piedmont. An accomplished diver, swimmer and horseback rider, she attended the Anna Head School in Berkeley, graduating in 1958 before matriculating to the University of Colorado, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in fine arts in 1962.

After graduation from CU in June 1962, Frankie returned to San Francisco and married her husband of 58 years, John Willett (Skip) Rhodes, Jr., on June 30, 1962 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Oakland. The next day, the couple moved to Anchorage, Alaska followed by a stint in Seattle, Wash. while Skip was on assignment with Chevron. Following those assignments, Frankie and Skip returned to San Francisco where she began her work with the interior design firm, Stroheim & Roman. The couple made a family home in Piedmont in 1966 and raised two sons, John Willett (Jay) Rhodes, III and Blake Francis Rhodes. In addition to her work with CSHPA, Frankie played an instrumental role in beginning the baseball program at her alma mater, the Head-Royce School in Oakland, so that both of her sons could continue to play during their high school years. For her contributions to the school, she was honored with the Head-Royce School Alumni Association’s Founders Award in 2008. With her mother being born and raised in Hilo, Hawaii, she also was a member of the Daughters of Hawai’i, one of the first organizations in Hawaii to recognize the importance of historic preservation, and the Dirt Daubers Garden Club.

Frankie is survived by her husband, Skip, sons, Jay (Dianne Bouton Rhodes) and Blake (Carin Husaini Rhodes), grandchildren, Hayden, Brody, McKenzie and Addison, nephew, Eric Rhodes, and nieces, Cheryl Thomas and Nance Weber, and numerous cousins. She was preceded in death by her parents Dr. Charles Thomas Hayden and Margaret Nichols Hayden, brother Charles Thomas (Skip) Hayden, Jr. and sister Rhoda Jean Robinson.

COVID-19 restrictions make planning for a celebration of life service difficult at this time. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you make a memorial gift to the Camron-Stanford House Preservation Association, 1418 Lakeside Drive, Oakland, CA, 94612 or the Head-Royce School, 4315 Lincoln Ave., Oakland, CA 94602.