Rhoda Mae McCartney

Rhoda Mae (Huxsol) McCartney, 95, of 1828 Cedar View Road, Charles City, Iowa, died Sunday morning, September 24, 2023 at Floyd County Medical Center.

Funeral service will be held at 1:30 p.m., Friday, Sept. 29, 2023, at First Congregational Church-UCC, 502 N. Jackson St., in Charles City, with Rev. John Tunnicliff officiating. Private interment will be in the Riverside Cemetery in Charles City. Immediately following the service, a reception will be held at the church.

Visitation is 5-7 p.m.Thursday at the Fullerton-Hage Funeral Home, 401 Blunt St. in Charles City. The visitation will continue at the church one hour prior to the service.

Rhoda Mae Huxsol was born June 30, 1928, in rural Marble Rock, Iowa, the daughter and only child of Julius F. and Ruth (Carney) Huxsol. She attended first through eighth grades in St. Charles Township No. 6, a one-room schoolhouse near Oakwood in West St. Charles Township, Floyd County. She graduated from Charles City High School in 1946. She received an Associate of Arts degree in 1948 from Frances Shimer College, a women’s college affiliated with the University of Chicago. In 1950, she graduated from the State University of Iowa, receiving her Bachelor of Arts degree in English. She was a member of Gamma Phi Beta sorority.

She was united in marriage to Ralph Farnham McCartney on June 25, 1950, at Central Methodist Church in Charles City; to this union three children were born. The newlyweds settled in Des Moines, where Ralph was employed by the law firm Heuber and Miller; Rhoda attended Drake University’s school of law during the fall 1950 semester. The couple returned to Charles City in September 1952.

A successful farm businesswoman, Rhoda was managing director of McCartney-Huxsol Farms beginning in 1969 and, in 1984, became principal trustee of J.F. Huxsol Trust.

Throughout her life, Rhoda was active in many community and charitable organizations. She was a 4-H mom and a member of the First Congregational Church-UCC of Charles City, the American Association of University Women (AAUW), PEO Sisterhood, the League of Women Voters of Iowa, the Republican Party of Iowa, and was chair of Floyd County Republican Women. For over 15 years she served on the board of directors of the Terrace Hill Society and on the Terrace Hill Commission, organizations dedicated to the restoration and furnishing of Iowa’s historic governor’s mansion. She served two terms on the Iowa Arts Council’s board of directors from 1975 to 1978, and was president of the City Improvement Association of Charles City. She also served on the board of Iowa Children and Family Services from 1963 to 1968. In 1975 she served as first vice president of the University of Iowa Parents’ Association.

In 1991, Rhoda founded the National Nineteenth Amendment Society, a non-profit organization that acquired the rural Charles City girlhood home of world suffrage leader Carrie Lane Chapman Catt. The 1866 home, on the National Register of Historic Places, has been restored and today is a museum and leading area tourist attraction, thanks to Rhoda’s leadership and guidance. She served as president of the organization from 1991 to 2002, and continued her service as a member of the board until her death. Her other contributions to historic preservation in Charles City included her leading the effort in the 1980s to save the west side of the historic 100 block of North Main Street from demolition. The block of nineteenth-century buildings had been proposed to be cleared for construction of a supermarket but was saved thanks to her advocacy.

A firm believer in education to benefit all, Rhoda was inducted into the Charles City High School Hall of Fame in 2013 by the Charles City Excellence in Education Foundation. Also in 2013, she was a recipient of the Alan Hutchings Outstanding Visionary Award from Silos and Smokestacks, an agency of the National Park Service, for her efforts to preserve the Carrie Lane Chapman Catt home. In 2016 she received the first ‘Woman of Influence’ Award from the National Nineteenth Amendment Society. She was named ‘Woman of the Year’ by the Charles City Chamber of Commerce in 2000.

Rhoda loved her family and enjoyed gardening, traveling, reading, and spending time with friends. A member of the University of Iowa Alumni Association, she was a loyal fan of the Iowa Hawkeyes and faithfully listened to every football game on the radio.

She is survived by two sons, Ralph (Lise) McCartney of Washington, D.C., David McCartney (James Petersen) of Iowa City; a daughter, Julia (Gerald) Cimmet of Venice, Florida; one granddaughter; and three great-grandchildren.

Rhoda was preceded in death by her parents and her husband.

Those wishing to extend memorials may direct them to the First Congregational Church-UCC, 502 N. Jackson St., Charles City, IA 50616; the National Nineteenth Amendment Society, Box 33, Charles City, IA 50616, or to the charity of the donor’s choice.

The family expresses its gratitude to the staff at Ninth Street Chautauqua Guest Home and the Floyd County Medical Center, Charles City, for their assistance and support.

Online condolences and full obituary may be made to www.fullertonfh.com and Facebook/Fullertonfun eralhomes.

(Fullerton-Hage Funeral Home and Cremation Services, 401 Blunt St., Charles City, IA 50616 (641)-228-4211).