Aleia Rhodes, a 44-year-old mother of four, was described as a ‘devoted mother, a loving wife, and a deeply cherished friend.’


A Newport News mother of four has been identified as the motorcyclist killed in a crash last week at Warwick and Boxley boulevards.

Aleia Kathryn Rhodes, 44, was heading south on Warwick Boulevard just before 10 a.m. on Aug. 26 when her motorcycle left the road, struck a curb and sent her into a fire hydrant, police said. She died at a hospital a short time later.

“We’re all devastated,” her mother, Kathleen Duncan of Chesapeake, said Monday. “She’s a lovely person. Oh my God, we love her.”

Rhodes grew up mostly in Norfolk and Chesapeake, her mother said. She attended Indian River High School in Chesapeake before graduating high school in California and later moving back to Virginia.

Rhodes was married and had four children — aged 25, 22, 20 and 14 — from a prior relationship, with all except the oldest living with her in Newport News.

“She loved them dearly, and they loved her dearly,” Duncan said.

On the day of the crash, Rhodes had the day off from her job as a manager of a Newport News La-Z-Boy furniture store. That morning, she walked her 14-year-old daughter to the bus stop on the girl’s third day of high school.

Later that morning, Rhodes and her husband went for a motorcycle ride. “They were just out for a morning drive,” Duncan said.

Rhodes was a cautious rider new to motorcycles, having just received her state certification to ride them three months ago, her mother said.

The couple rode south on Warwick Boulevard on separate bikes, with Rhodes’ husband leading the way. But something caused Rhodes’ motorcycle to suddenly veer to the left and strike the curb.

“It was so unexpected, so it’s just incredibly hard,” Duncan said.

Katie McCann, a close friend whom Rhodes hired to work at the furniture store about two years ago, said Aleia “had this energy about her that made it almost impossible to stay in a bad mood when she was around.”

She loved the outdoors, loved adventure, and loved her family, McCann said.

“She always knew exactly what to say, no matter what I was going through,” she said. “She was blunt, honest, and never afraid to tell you what you needed to hear, but it always came from a place of love and genuine care.”

“She was genuinely the best part of coming into work every day,” McCann said. “She made ordinary days better simply by being part of them.”

“Aleia was a devoted mother, a loving wife, and a deeply cherished friend,” McCann wrote in setting up a GoFundMe fundraising page. “She loved her husband dearly, adored her children, and had an adventurous spirit that brought so much life and joy to those around her.”

The crash, McCann added, “has left an unimaginable void in the lives of everyone who loved her.”