A Career in Code and Connection
As a Westmont student, John Rodkey ’79 envisioned a career as a missionary doctor in the field. But he discovered a different calling and direction. After majoring in chemistry, he returned to campus in 1981, and Stan Anderson, his former professor, hired him as a chemistry lab manager.
Programming the college’s first minicomputer to inventory chemicals and reconcile chemistry invoices led to new responsibilities. “I learned to do this in BASIC, a terrible programming language with a rudimentary database capability,” he says. “Suddenly, I became the Westmont expert on BASIC, and the mathematics/computer science department asked me to teach a general programming course.” His star pupils included Niva Tro ’85, professor emeritus of chemistry, and Jon Walker ’91, who founded AppFolio and now serves as chief technology officer at Buildertrend.
John then programmed the PR1ME 550 computer, a springboard into academic computing, and managed various high-tech chemistry instruments, including an infrared spectrometer by Mattson Instruments, working for the company during two summers. Mattson then brought him on staff full time to service instruments at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station, Lockheed Martin Skunk Works and various universities.
But John returned to campus after a year at the urging of mathematics professor Russ Howell. He earned a second Westmont degree in computer science in 1991. He has worked in IT for more than four decades, gaining a unique vantage point on the ever-changing role of computers and technology on campus. He began developing the college’s IT infrastructure, setting up the first network, implementing Linux servers and installing the college’s first campus-wide wireless internet network. He plans to write a book about his career and the evolution of computing at Westmont.
John’s wife, Jeanne, grew up in the small village of Stony River, Alaska, 250 air miles from roads. She read every children’s book available (and many adult books). They became an important part of her life, and she vowed to provide books for other isolated third-culture kids.
Fulfilling this promise, the Rodkeys established BookEnds (bookendsinternational.org), and they’ve shipped more than 115,000 volumes to families around the world since 1990 — and more than 10,000 annually since 2019.
An avid pilot who rebuilt a 1946 Aeronca Chief, a single-engine, light aircraft, in the garage of his Goleta home, John once delivered books by plane. When he flew to Idaho to visit his parents without a passenger, Jeanne gave him 150 pounds of books for a friend in Bend, Oregon, who eventually took them to China. “Jeanne has shipped books to and developed relationships with more than 1,200 people in 107 countries despite never traveling to any of them,” John says. “She communicates by text message and email.”
Two of the four Rodkey children graduated from Westmont: Krista ’07, a philosophy major with a doctorate in philosophy; and Erik ’11, a music major. Adelle attended a Westmont Mayterm and later completed a master’s degree in music. She has taught oboe on campus for 15 years. Elissa holds a doctorate in psychology, and Jeanne earned a Bachelor of Science in nursing.
“Westmont helped me see that you don’t have to be a missionary to make an impact for Christ,” John says.
“The college has made me and other students more aware of global issues and ways we can minister to people that honor them as well as Christ. The church hasn’t always honored people properly.
“Christ is preeminent, and we want him to be our source of meaning, our motivation for doing significant things.”