Who Is Vermont’s Next Lieutenant Governor?

John grew up on a dairy farm in West Glover, Vermont with his parents, John W. Rodgers and Marie Amyot Rodgers, and his older brother Mark and 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 their own food, growing large gardens, freezing and canning garden produce, as well as, raising beef, chicken, and pork. 

A Vermont Family Legacy

John was instilled with a deep love for the land, especially the deep dark soil of the family farm. 

The fifth generation to grow up on a farm  settled by the family in 1838, John learned that a strong work ethic, being polite, and being honest would get him a long way in life. 

Grandmother Ruth was a pioneer in agritourism. She took farm vacationers into the farmhouse year round from the early 1960s on a practice that introduced young John to people from all over the world. John’s mother, Marie, helped  grandmother Ruth prepare three meals a day for the families that stayed with them all enjoying every meal together as one big farm family. 

In the many years that the Rodgers family hosted people in their family home, his grandparents and parents treated everybody  as family ensuring no one ever left hungry. This experience nurtured John’s appreciation for people from many different places and many different cultures developing his deep respect for cultural diversity that motivates him to do this day. Thousands of people passed through Rodgers' childhood home, many returning year after year for many years.  having developed deep and lasting relationships with each other.

Young John attended Glover Community School through the fifth grade graduating Saint Paul’s Catholic Middle School .  Sacred Heart High School in Newport, Vermont  followed later receiving an Associates Degree from New Hampshire Technical College.

A History of Hard Work

 A rusty old Chevy blazer, some hand tools, and a couple ladders were all a 20-something John would need to launch his first business. Mostly doing brick and block work, he crafted countless 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. Numerous Vermonters’ properties bear John’s signature designed retaining walls, staircases, and patios Among historic landmarks, John helped preserve the barn at Circus Smirkus, the barn that is the globally famous and revered Bread and Puppet Museum, and several Old Stone House Museum property buildings.

Home Is Where the Heart Is

Brenda Brown and John married 33 years ago. Mrs. Rodgers, a registered nurse, works in St. Johnsbury in the surgical field.

Brenda and John have two grown sons. The eldest, John. F Rodgers, and his wife Kristen have two children ages five and three. John, an electro mechanical engineer, works at Weideman in St. Johnsbury. Kristen is a dental hygienist and a Beachbody coach.  Together, they own 12 K granola company, and are building a home on their parent’s farm. 

Their youngest son Derek is a Navy veteran  while his wife Stephanie continues to serve in the US Navy working in communications at the White House. Derek, now an electronics technician, works for a biotech company that specializes in stem cell research. They live in  Virginia, just outside of DC, with their new baby boy, Philip–pride and joy of Pops John and Meme Brenda. 

While excavation and masonry remain John’s mainstay, he supplements in the winter with snow plowing and forestry, like all well seasoned Vermonters. The Vermont Farmers Hemp Company and Farmers Underground, the family cannabis business, remain their love, keeping all current generations in touch with the land.  Brenda and John, and their son John, run all these businesses as a family team.

John and Brenda aspire to leave the 200-year-old family farm to a sixth and seventh generation of Rodgers.   Petra, the family Doberman, and rescue pup Presley keep it real.

A Record of Community Service

First elected  as the collector of delinquent tax in his hometown of GloverJohn went on to win election to the House of Representatives in 2003, where he served for eight years. After taking a couple years off,  he won his district’s seat to the Vermont State Senate,  serving for another eight years. During his years as a Vermont lawmaker, he served on the House Institutions and Corrections Committee, the Senate Natural Resources and Energy Committee, the Senate Institutions Committee, and the Judicial Nominating Committee.

John is well regarded 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 into partisan politics, often voting across party lines to do right by his constituents, his fellow Vermonters. John is one of the few (if not the only) legislator who has always stood up for everyone’s constitutional rights. 

Rodgers believes strongly in an individual’s bodily autonomy and personal and property rights for all Vermonters. Deeply committed to the working Vermonters who work too hard for too little in a state that costs too much to live in, John Rodgers is the lieutenant governor Vermont needs in these trying times.  He stands ready to cast the deciding vote in the Senate on behalf of the red plaid, and, if necessary, assume the serious task of governing in the absence of Governor Scott.