Rodney M Brock

August 26, 1930 - November 30, 2018

Brock, Rodney Obituary

Born in Dinuba, CA to Roy & Verle (Griggs) Brock and proceeded in death by his brother Roger and parents.  Rod is survived by his wife of 30 plus years Debbie, in Las Vegas, NV, brother Jim of Palm Springs, CA, sons Al Semone of Oregon City, OR, Bob of Cheney, WA, Dan of Kent, WA, step-son Joe Escriba of Las Vegas, NV, daughters LuAnne Semone of Oregon City, OR, Susan (Brock) Weeks of Chattaroy WA and step-daughter Jenny Escriba of Kent, WA. He has 6 grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren.

Rod grew up in the San Joaquin Valley, spending his childhood in Dinuba, Hollister, Gilroy, Selma and Fowler where his parents owned and operated the newspaper, the Fowler Ensign.  He graduated from Fowler Union High School in 1948.  A fascination with science led him to Fresno State University where he studied physics.  During this time, he also joined the Naval Reserve and married his first wife Marilou (Felty), having two children, Al and LuAnne. He then spent the next few years working in California in the cold war defense industries.  In 1958 he married his second wife Myrna (Bardsley) while living in Seattle, WA and working for Boeing.  In 1963, they moved to Sequim, WA where they bought and ran the Sequim Press, following his parents’ footsteps into the newspaper business.  Sons Bob and Dan are born.  In 1970 they moved back to the Seattle area where Rod became interested in real estate and digital signs and his daughter Susan is born. 

In 1977 he and third wife Kathy (Bowman) founded a computer company called Seattle Computer Products.   The company would become successful, producing RAM memory for computers.  Rod’s company earns a place in computer history when a young engineer in his employ creates a disk operation system called QDOS, which is eventually sold to Microsoft and becomes the basis for MSDOS, which helps launch Microsoft on its industry dominating trajectory. In its peak year, Seattle Computer Products employs 50 people and had 4 million in sales.  In 1982 he marries Debbie (Escriba) and together they run the company through the mid-1980’s.

Rod returns to college and graduates from the University of Washington with a degree in Business and Finance in 1991.  He plays the stock market and meets his future wife Theda (Heap) on Senior Net.  They marry in 1995 and he relocates to Santa Maria, CA.  During the next few years they take many road trips and he invests and manages real estate rental properties until Theda’s passing in 2002. 

Rod reconnects with Debbie the next year and the two remarry and move to Sun City in Henderson, NV, where they build a home on the hillside with pool and a beautiful view.  They take a number of road trips over the next few years and he writes and published a book titled “Algebra Word Problems; Number Problems Made Easy” in 2014.  Rod and Debbie lived in the Las Vegas area until his death. 

Rod enjoyed reading books about science, history and science fiction. Tom Clancy was one of his favorite authors and the Terminator, Sarah Connor Chronicles one of his favorite stories.  He loved maps and photography, listening to music, planning and taking long road trips, fast cars, hamburgers, diet Coke and his dog Bella.  Some of his more adventurous pursuits included piloting small planes and, as a member of the Seattle Mountaineers, he took numerous hikes in the Cascades and even summited Mt. St. Helens prior to its eruption.  Rod was known as a quiet and gentle man. 




Share this Obituary: