A private family graveside service for MAJ (Retired) Ernest Allen Rhodes will be held at 10:00 a.m., Thursday, January 28, 2021 at Sunset Memorial Gardens with Rev. Vivian Garza, Pastor of Antioch Baptist Church, Chattanooga, Oklahoma officiating.

Due to the ongoing pandemic, a memorial service with military honors will be held at a later date.

Family and friends may pay their respects at Becker-Rabon Funeral Home from 9:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m. Tuesday, January 26, 2021 – Wednesday, January 27, 2021.

MAJ (Retired) Ernest Allen Rhodes passed away Monday, January 18, 2021 in Lawton at the age of 72.  He was born August 20, 1948, in Lawton, Oklahoma to Ernest E. and Virginia E. (Godfred) Rhodes. He attended Eisenhower Junior and Senior High Schools and earned his Bachelor of Arts Degree from Cameron University where he was a member of Alpha Phi Omega National Service Fraternity. He had a daughter, Aubrena (Bateman) O'Neal. Two things he imparted upon her were a love of Peanuts (the Charles Schulz kind) and a love of pistachio nuts (the Planters kind).

Allen served for three years as a counter-intelligence officer in the U.S. Army during the Cold War. He was assigned to highly technical and classified missions during his time with the Special Security Group in Heidelberg, Germany and the VII Corps, G2 in Stuttgart, West Germany. After being honorably discharged from active duty as a first lieutenant, he chose to spend the next twenty years serving his country in the U.S. Army Reserves and completed his service at the rank of major. While a reservist, he served his community for seven years as a correctional officer at the Lawton Police Department and four years as a reserve deputy sheriff with the Comanche County Sheriff's Department. Following his time in law enforcement, he worked as a special agent and industrial security representative with the Defense Investigative Service until his civil service retirement in 2006.

He was an avid collector of autographs and loved to attend the Dallas Comic Con, FAN EXPO Dallas, and other sci-fi conventions where he would volunteer as a bodyguard or as a part of the welcoming committee. One of his favorite pastimes was enthusiastically sharing stories about working with Carrie Fisher, Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca), and many others. He called everyone "Partner," a habit he inherited from his father and passed on to his own son-in-law.

Allen is survived by his daughter Aubrena and husband CDR Matthew O'Neal, USN, Washington, D.C.; three grandchildren, Noah O'Neal, Zion O'Neal, and Alora O'Neal, Washington, D.C.; and many nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends, especially his Con and Golden Corral buddies.

He is preceded in death by his parents and an aunt and uncle, Estelle and R.A. "Dude" Pickens

An online guest book and sympathy cards are available at www.beckerfuneral.com .