John grew up on a dairy in West Glover Vermont with his parents, John W Rodgers and Marie Amyot Rodgers, and older brother Mark and his sister Diane. The Rodgers family did not have a lot of money, but they had a loving family and lived in a tightly knit community. They raised much of our own food, growing large gardens and freezing, and canning garden produce as well as raising beef, chicken and pork. John was instilled with a deep love for the land, especially the deep dark soil of the family farm. He was the fifth generation to grow up on the farm that was settled in 1838 by his family. Working on the farm, John learned that a strong work ethic, being polite and being honest, would get you a long way in life.
John‘s grandmother, Ruth, was a pioneer in agritourism. She started taking farm vacationers into the farmhouse in the early 60s. John grew up with people from all over the world living in the house with the family for much of the year. John’s mother, Marie, helped his grandmother prepared three meals a day for the families that stayed with them and they all ate every meal together as a big farm family. In the many years that the Rodgers family hosted people in their family home everybody was treated as family and no one ever left hungry. This experience allowed John to meet people from many different places and many different cultures and to develop a respect for cultural diversity. Over the years many thousands of people passed through the Rodgers home many returning year after year for many years. Some eventually moved to Vermont because of their experience staying on the Rodgers family farm. John and the rest of the family developed deep and lasting relationships with many of these families.
John attended Glover Community School until fifth grade and then moved to Saint Paul’s Catholic school where he graduated from eighth grade. He went on to graduate from Sacred Heart High School in Newport Vermont and eventually receive an associates degree from New Hampshire Technical College.
John started his own business in his early 20s with rusty old Chevy blazer, some hand tools, and a couple ladders. Mostly doing brick and block work, he built many chimneys, fireplaces, hearths, and other masonry structures. As his business matured, he began doing more dry laid stonework, which he found to be his passion and slowly transitioned his business towards this and excavation. John’s favorite work is historic restorations, especially the foundations of historic barns. He has transformed many peoples property with retaining walls, staircases, and patios most of which he has designed and built with dry laid stone. Among other landmarks, John has helped preserve the barn at Circus Smirkus, the barn that is the Bread and Puppet Museum, many buildings on the Old Stone House Museum property, as well as many other historic buildings around the area.
John’s first elected position was as the collector of delinquent tax in his hometown of Glover. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 2003 where he served for eight years. After taking a couple years off, he was elected to the Vermont State Senate where he served for another eight years. During his years in the Legislature, he served on the House Institutions and Corrections Committee, the Senate Natural Resources and Energy Committee, Senate Institutions Committee, and the Judicial Nominating Committee.
John was always seen as a legislator who would work with people from all political parties and perspectives. He worked hard to represent his constituents and the working-class people of Vermont and did not buy in to partisan politics, often voting across party lines for what he believe was right. John is one of the few (if not the only) legislator who has always stood up for everyone’s constitutional rights. He believes strongly in personal and property rights for all Vermonters and he is deeply committed to the working class and blue collar Vermonters who work too hard for too little in a state that costs too much to live in.
