Rodney Ayers - 1963
BIO & Picture
My sister Barb
(HHS '71) me and my wife Sharon
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Rod Ayers 2003-12-09
Hi to everyone…sorry I had to miss
the 40th because there were several I was anxious to see again after all
the years.
In many ways it seems like only
yesterday we rushing though Kewpie land, trying to hurry and graduate so
we could get on with life. But then again there are times when it
seems like “a time long, long ago, in a place far, far away”.
I headed off to Calvary Bible College
in Kansas City that summer with the intent of going into Christian Education/Sacred
Music. But after the first year, decided to make a change.
I thought electronics might be good. Besides, there was the possibility
of going to work for the Far Eastern Broadcasting Company, or HCJB in Quito,
Ecuador and still be in church-related work. I was all set to enroll
in a full-time electronics school…but there was a little matter of needing
an evening job.
The ad read “ELECTRONIC DATA PROCESSING”,
and was for a trainee position on the second shift. So far, so good…!
Well, I had an idea what “electronics” was, but had no clue to the “data
processing” part. The hiring manager misread my application and thought
I was working 60 hours a week and going to school fulltime (not).
He thought I sounded like a go-getter and hired me out of 60 applicants.
Now I’ve spent 36 of the last 39 years since 1964 playing with computers.
And I never did make it to electronics school!
The first computer on which I worked
was an IBM 1401. It was a little bigger than a side-by-side refrigerator,
and had 16KB (KB, not MB!) of memory. It cost about $8,000/month
to rent. Commerce Bank (where I worked) used that one computer for
all Demand Deposit and Savings accounting.
That was really a fun time to be
”in computers”, since “we” were literally dreaming up and inventing everything
we take for granted today. The Apple and PC were over 15 years away.
“We didn’t have operating systems; we didn’t have methodologies; and we
didn’t know we needed them.
I stayed in Kansas City for 12
of 13 years, with a year in Omaha. I crammed my 4-year business degree
(BBA) into 11 years at UMKC. In 1975 I went to Indianapolis for a
year, then off to Detroit for 5 years, most of the time at Rockwell International
Automotive Operations…still working in computers (DP…? IS…?
MIS…?). While in Detroit I got my MBA from the University of Detroit,
but this time I did the 57 hours in 27 months.
With a brand new MBA I decided
it was time to make the big switch to corporate finance, and joined the
Ford Finance Training program…the year before Ford lost $2 billion.
The loss through Ford a real curve, and everything came to a screeching
halt. The finance program stalled. So…it was back to computers.
In 1980 I went to work for Nissan
in Tennessee. The Japanese were just beginning to build the Truck
plant in Smyrna, about 10 miles outside of Nashville. Nissan is Japanese-owned
and American-managed. I was part of the MIS management team that
started-up an MIS organization from scratch…with 50 employees and over
125 contractors during the first two years.
In 1988 I came to Southern California.
I’m still working in computers, and teach part time at California State
University, Fullerton. I got my second master’s, MS in Management
Systems, at CSUF in 2000. One of my professors liked a research paper
I had done for him, and it was just published in “Information Management
and Computer Security” (UK).
A few years ago I got to take a
couple of business trips to Birmingham, UK. The schedule didn’t allow
for sightseeing, and the only thing memorable was a sore seat from the
11-1/2 hour flight out of LA.
I met my present wife, Sharon,
in a church singles group (it does work!) in Long Beach. This December
is our 14th anniversary. She’s one of those rare people…a real California
native. She graduated from La Puente in ’62. Sharon is an RN
(outstanding, in my humble opinion).
Now retired from nursing, Sharon
is primary caregiver for her folks and volunteers at our church, where
we are both active. I served on the Trustee Board for 6 years, and
was elected Treasurer a year ago. I used to sing in the choir, but
with contemporary worship, choirs are few and far between! So are
the organ concerts, which I dearly love.
I have two daughters from my first
marriage, and am now a granddad. My parents, who lived in Parkade
(out past the Cancer hospital), for 45 years, moved to Marshall a couple
of years ago. My sister Barbara (HHS ’71) moved to Southern California
a year ago, and my brother Steve (HHS ’65) lives in St. Joseph.
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