A man of many vocations, Rodney Harvey Chow died peacefully on March 11, 2025 at
the age of 95. Born in San Francisco in 1929 to Harvey and Gloria Chow, the family
soon moved to Los Angeles. Rodney was the second child and had three sisters, Prudy
(deceased), Pat, and Pam, and two brothers, Stan and Ted. He attended Poly High
School then received a Bachelor's degree from USC in chemical engineering. After
graduation, he was drafted into the army during the Korean War. After serving, he
worked for the Los Angeles County Flood Control District and completed a Master's
degree in civil engineering while working there. During his undergraduate studies at
USC, he met Joy Ruth Gray (a Chinese adoptee) at a UCLA student party that he and a
couple buddies "crashed". They married in 1954. He still had the slip of paper in his
wallet with Joy's telephone number well into the 1980's. They had three children:
Bruce, Keithen, and Carolyn while living in West Los Angeles. After the kids grew up
Rodney and Joy moved to Carpinteria. Joy would be seen with Rodney at their farmer's
market booth or working on their 5-acre farm. She preceded him in death in 2015.
Their three grandchildren were Chloe, Christina, and Christopher. He had one great
grandchild, Olive.

It's hard to distinguish his interests from his vocations as they were often one in the
same. After working for LA County, he ventured out on his own and opened Rodney
Chow Development Company for land development in Acton and Agua Dulce, near
Palmdale. He spent time working with landowners, employing his civil engineering skills
to subdivide properties and build homes to sell. He and Joy purchased a 5-acre parcel
in Carpinteria that became Bright Spring Ranch. After moving there, he then became a
real estate agent in the Oxnard area with Patterson & Tintorri Realtors. He took delight
in helping first-time home buyers and others with limited incomes finance their home
purchases. Many of these clients became his friends as a result. During that time, he
developed an interest in farming, growing and selling produce like fuji apples, fava
beans, and cut flowers. He loved farming and researched the crops that would grow
best on his land and which would give him an edge in sales at the local farmer's
markets. He could often be found at the Carpinteria and Santa Barbara farmer's
markets, with Joy. His booth at the farmer's market was a place known for good
conversation, as well as good produce. The conversations were sometimes so
satisfying that his customers would forget and walk away without their produce. He
eventually served on the farmer's market board.

Late in life, he fully committed to authoring books by taking writing classes and
submitting himself to critical reviews from his writing instructors. In his nineties, he
published two books: "American as Apple Pie" and "Stories of the Good Old Days." The
success of those books made him a local celebrity. He also taught writing classes at his
senior living home.

Although he would occasionally go on fishing expeditions to Alaska with his old school
and army buddies, only rockhounding (rock collecting) stood out as a true hobby. In his
younger days he took the family on desert trips in their VW camper van. That van went
on roads and to back country that even some four-wheel drive vehicles feared to go.
They collected agates, petrified wood, jasper, and calcedony, that ended up in
"organized" bins and piles on a section of his Carpinteria property. His house was filled
with polished petrified wood specimens. When he had the time, he cut the stones he
had found and made jewelry from them.

Rodney had a zest for life and was always planning the next venture or the next book to
write. Often it was just talk, but some of those ventures, like his books, became real.
His constant planning kept his mind sharp and gave others inspiration. However, it was
getting together and talking with his friends gave him his greatest satisfaction. Near the
end of his life, he took an interest in the things of faith and studied the Bible with one of
these friends at the senior living home. Among his last words were, "I chose Jesus."

He will be missed by many.