Obituary of Rhoda Colville

COLVILLE (Wright), Rhoda Valentine ?쳌 Rhoda Colville, wife of the artist Alex Colville and the model for many of his most celebrated images, died peacefully by his side on December 29, 2012, at their home in Wolfville. Born Rhoda Valentine Wright on February 14, 1921, she was the daughter of Charles and Annie Louise (Eaton) Wright. Her childhood was marked by the tragic death of her father, a prominent building contractor, brother Graham, sister Jean, her mother's father and one of her aunts when their car was struck by a train at Falmouth, on July 16, 1929. She graduated from Horton Academy in 1938 and went to Mount Allison in Sackville, N.B., to study fine art in the fall. There she met and fell in love with Alex. They married in 1942 and he joined the army, serving as a war artist. After the war they moved back to Sackville where they raised their four children. Herself a gifted artist, Rhoda was also a witty occasional poet whose works were much in demand for birthdays of family and friends. She was an enthusiastic swimmer, skater, dancer, singer, pianist and cyclist whose recreational life was immortalized in her husband's works, many set in the fields, hills, waterways and beaches of her beloved Annapolis Valley. In 1972 the Colvilles moved back to Wolfville, to the house built by her father where she was born and lived as a child. She was predeceased in 2012 by her son, John. She is survived by her husband, Alex; sons, Graham and Charles (Cathy) and daughter, Ann (John) Kitz; grandchildren, Ann, Elizabeth, Claire, Hannah and Nathan Colville and Alex, Robert and Hilary Kitz; great-grandchildren, Leo Somma and Benjamin Colville; sister, Marilyn Gertridge. A funeral service will be held in St. Andrew's United Church, one of numerous Wolfville landmarks built by her father, today, January 2, 2013 at 10 a.m. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Valley Hospice Foundation.