Rhonda Casas

Rhonda Schneider Casas, avid knitter, education champion, and nature photographer, died on January 8, 2020 from brain cancer. Native to Connecticut, she arrived in Maryland on scholarship as one of the first women at the Johns Hopkins University. There she earned the first of four degrees in arts and education and met her husband of 42 years, Luis, in a lecture hall. He killed a spider for her and the rest is history. After working as an adult rehabilitation counselor, she cared for her two daughters, Rachel and Rebecca, and macaw-son, Squeaker. Decades later, she returned to school for a master’s of education, earning “the best GPA in the house”, then working as a special educator in the Montgomery County Public School system. Following a much-anticipated retirement, Rhonda reveled in spending time with her family, especially grandsons Daniel and Robin, traveling to new places, adding to her yarn stash, and walking outside no matter how cold. Above all, she loved her family “more than humanly possible”. In lieu of flowers, she would want donations made in her memory to the American Cancer Society.