Rodney
Stadum

The second child of Palmer and Signe Stadum, born in Cando, ND, into a home that his father had helped electrify a decade earlier.

As a young man Rod absorbed the oral history of the family – Palmer's work at Baker Electric, the early cooperative years, and the arrival of electricity on North Dakota farms. These recollections would later anchor Scott's archive.

Attended and graduated from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. It was here he met Kathy Nienow, whom he would marry in December 1969. His college years placed him in Northfield for four formative years before his military service.

Rodney graduated from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota in 1969 with a degree in Physics.

Rodney married Kathy Anne Nienow in Faribault, Minnesota on December 28, 1969. Read the wedding story →

Rodney served in the United States Navy from 1970 to 1977 as part of the Naval Construction Battalions . SeaBees era →

Served with the US Air Force and was stationed in Okinawa, Japan.

Lived in Yuba City, CA, while stationed at nearby Beale AFB.

Their first daughter, Amy Cathleen, was born on February 8, 1972, at Beale AFB, California, carrying the family line into the third generation.

AIP metadata lists Rodney Stadum as a co-author of "Bragg Diffraction of Microwaves," published in American Journal of Physics, volume 41, issue 1. The record gives Rod a source-backed professional thread in physics education.

Following his Yuba City posting, Rodney lived in Buffalo, New York, during the mid-1970s — a transitional chapter between his Air Force years and the family's settlement in Cambridge, Ohio.

Their second daughter, Kristin Danielle, was born on September 3, 1975, in Cambridge, Ohio.

Rod attended the REA 40th Anniversary event alongside Palmer, where his father's work was formally recognized at the Rugby Pioneer Village museum.

Their son, Scott Jeremy, was born on May 3, 1977, in Cambridge, Ohio — the archive's future curator and builder.

Worked for 35 years at Eastman Kodak Company, applying his technical skills and background in physics to imaging and film technology.

Rodney married Christine Stadum in 1985, beginning a new chapter of family life together. They moved to Dayton, Ohio, where Christine is documented as his wife in Signe Stadum's 2003 obituary.

Rodney and Christine relocated to Dayton, Ohio, where they built their life together. Signe Stadum's 2003 obituary lists Rod and Christine as residing in Dayton, Ohio.