Jack Firneno, the Wire
As a matter of tradition, when the Inter-Service Club of Upper Southampton announces the Citizen of the Year at its annual banquet, they start by listing the person’s achievements without mentioning who it is. The person doesn’t even know themselves that they’ve been named.
That was certainly true for this year’s Citizen of the Year, Lyn Rhodes. But, eventually, the items started ringing a bell — literally.
“Really, I had no idea until at the very end they mentioned the bell project,” he said.
Rhodes is referring to a project helmed by the Southampton Lions Club, for which he was the chairman. About five years ago, the bell that used to be on top of the old Southampton High School in the early 1900s — now the Advanced Dental building on Street Road near Second Street Pike — was discovered on a nearby farm. It had been there for 35 years, and was identified by its inscription.
The Lions Club worked with the Southampton Historical Society to solicit contributions to refurbish the bell and rebuild its stand. Last October, the bell was delivered to the Upper Southampton Township supervisors, and it can now be seen in the Administration Building.
“It’s a beautiful piece of woodwork and restoration,” said Rhodes. “It’s a piece of Southampton that didn’t end up getting lost.”
Restoring a piece of Southampton’s history is just one small item on a long list of achievements that made Rhodes the 34th Citizen of the Year.
Started in 1982, the award and banquet are organized by the Southampton Inter-Service Club, which works with private and municipal groups like the Southampton Lions, Kiwanis, Southampton Days, library and fire company.
Each group nominates someone for the award, and previous winners vote on each new person. This year, 16 previous Citizens of the Year were available to weigh in.
“Usually, it’s someone everyone knows and who’s been involved for many years,” said former Citizen of the Year Diane Redstreake.
It’s a bill Rhodes certainly fits: After graduating from William Tennent High School in 1960, Rhodes majored in business at Penn State University and served in the U.S. Army after graduation. He later switched to the National Guard and became the commanding officer of the Doylestown National Guard Unit.
Ultimately, he served more than 20 years and worked as the head of transportation and food services at Centennial School District for 29 years.
Currently, Rhodes is a member of the local VFW and Penn State Club chapters, serves as treasurer of the YoHo Hunt Club, and is an active member of the Masonic Blue Lodge, Southampton Square Club and Southampton Business and Professional Association, along with his work with the Lions Club.
“Southampton has just been a wonderful community to live in,” said Rhodes. “There’s a whole contingent of people all over that benefit the township and make it a great place.”
And, it’s a great place that Rhodes has watched blossom. He came to Upper Southampton when he was 5 years old — back when Street Road and Second Street Pike were two lanes each and at most there were 1,800 people in the township.
Today, of course, the roads are twice as large and the population has increased nearly 10-fold.
“People have moved in, new schools have been built, we have the wonderful Tamanend Park,” said Rhodes. “The community gets bigger and bigger.”
The only drawback, he noted, is that it becomes harder for people to stay connected as the population grows larger. That’s part of the reason he encourages more people to volunteer their time for the community. And, he points to the Citizen of the Year banquet as an example of what that effort can achieve.
“The people at the banquet are people who work hard. Everybody in the room knows everybody else and the cooperation between the groups is extremely good,” said Rhodes. “Volunteering is something everyone should take a hard look at. Think of where we’d be as a nation if we didn’t have volunteers.
“It’s also fun. That’s the key.”
