Our Staff
Our Staff
Kris Rhodes
Funeral Director In Charge/Funeral Director/Preneed Advisor
Kris Rhodes grew up and attended schools in Clear Lake
City (Houston) for 12 years before moving to Mexia, TX and graduating high school in 1991. She graduated Baylor University in 1999 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Health, Human
Performance, and Recreation with a minor in Gerontology, while also working full
time at Regis/St. Elizabeth nursing home.
In 1995 Kris and Scott Rhodes married, and Kris spent over 25 years assisting in Scott's youth ministry. The couple’s two sons, who both attended and graduated from Midway schools, are currently enrolled in college. The youngest is a Waco area Realtor. Kris was fortunate enough to be a stay at home mom for 15 years.
As a young adult, after attending a funeral, Kris was drawn to the organizational aspects of the funeral business. Later on, several classes at Baylor sparked her interest in death care. However, it was while assisting her mother in the funeral arrangements for members of her own family that her desire to be an advocate for families in their times of need began to grow.
In 2015 she joined the Grace Gardens family as a funeral assistant and her calling into funeral work blossomed. In 2017 she earned her funeral director’s license and became a full time funeral director, allowing her to live out her greatest passion of serving others. Kris’ goal is to really hear and connect with families helping them create the meaningful experience they need when a loved one passes. She seeks to be creative and innovative, and strives to offer love and care to all. To Kris, it is her ministry, not her job. Her philosophy is “No ask is too small or too big, there is a reason it was asked, and we need to make it happen.”
Whitney Paige West
Funeral Director and Embalmer
Whitney grew up in the small community of Moffat, Texas. She is the youngest of three kids and was the official "sweet talker" growing up, always being able to get her and her siblings out of whatever predicament they found themselves in. She spent all of her school years in Belton; playing softball, showing pigs and lambs, and participating in numerous other activities through FFA and 4-H. After graduating high school in 2014, Whitney attended Temple College, earning a plethora of degrees, in surgical science. She moved to the China Spring area in 2020 and soon after found her passion in the funeral industry, which led her to attend Dallas Institute of Funeral Service graduating in March of 2022 with a degree in funeral services and embalming.
In her spare time, Whitney enjoys hanging out with her husband Travis while watching their pups, Jett, Harley, and Luke run around on their family farm. Whitney is also an outdoorsy gal and enjoys hunting and fishing on Lake Belton and the Texas Gulf Coast with her Papa.
Samantha Marton
Office Manager/Insurance Coordinator/Funeral Director & Embalmer Apprentice
Kimberly Lester
Office Assistant
Glenda Holland
Care Center Coordinator/Funeral Director/Embalmer/Preneed Advisor/Aftercare Coordinator
Glenda was born and raised in Roswell, New Mexico where she experienced growing up on a ranch and farm run by her loving parents and grandparents when times were simple and family oriented. Growing up in that environment gave her a love and compassion for the understanding of life and death on a daily basis.
Glenda married her husband Lynn in 1974 and had three wonderful children who were her life and world for several years before she took a job in 1985 as a receptionist at Ballard Funeral Home in Roswell. She found a passion and inner satisfaction in helping others during a difficult time after the death of a family member. She decided to further her education in order to go to Mortuary school and become a funeral director at a time when funeral directing was dominated by males.
Glenda attended Eastern New Mexico University - Roswell, graduating with a degree in Business in 1989 and immediately went on to attend Commonwealth Institute of Funeral Services in Houston, TX where she graduated with honors and distinction; earning the Waltrip Award as most likely to succeed. During mortuary school and after graduating, she worked at Geo. H. Lewis & Sons in Houston before being transferred to Waltrip Funeral Directors as manager. Ventures would take her from Texas to Oklahoma for several years before moving back to Texas.
Glenda had semi-retired for a short time, but on January 30, 2018, she lost her only son after a very short hard battle with cancer which reignited her feelings and reopened all the passion and desire to help families who were going through what she had just lived through. Because of the care and compassion of Grace Garden’s Funeral Home during that difficult time, Glenda begin working for Higginbotham Funeral Homes of Texas, making Grace Garden’s Funeral Home her second home. During her career span, she has worked at funeral homes in New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas over a period of 35 years in many capacities including funeral director/embalmer, pre-need consultant, aftercare coordinator, trainer, management, and care center supervisor.
Her hobbies include, antiquing, decorating for holidays, spending time with her family, and spoiling her grandchildren.
Amanda Shaw
Care Center Assistant
Ryan Baldridge
Crematory Manager
Ryan is a long time Woodway resident. He graduated from Midway High School in 2002.
Ryan is very detail oriented and is a huge asset to Grace Gardens. He began working as a funeral assistant in 2017. His organizational skills improved many facets of our daily operations. In 2019, he took on the role of crematory operator, using his gifts to provide reliable and dignified service.
Ryan is currently the crematory manager,
overseeing all aspects of the cremation process. He also provides technical support and helps
in other avenues of funeral service.
Even though Ryan doesn’t serve families face to face, his support to the
staff and his service of cremation is his way of offering support and care to all
those Grace Gardens serves.
Ryan enjoys repairing antique clocks and watches,
restoring antiques, collecting old photos, and fountain pens.
Scott Rhodes
Grounds and Maintenance / Funeral Assistant
Scott grew up in the Houston area. However, his family visited Waco on a regular basis as most of his extended family resided here. Scott has degrees from Baylor University and the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. After 26 years in local church ministry, Higginbotham Funeral Homes of Texas was kind enough to offer him a job at Grace Gardens. If you encounter unsatisfactory conditions in the building, please inform him so he can fix it for you.