Posted on December 10th, 2025 in News

After more than a decade of caregiving and years of overcoming hardship, ministry student Tammy Rodgers is preparing to graduate—stepping boldly toward her calling as a hospital chaplain.

A Calling Confirmed

After more than a decade of being a caregiver—for her sister and for clients—Tammy Rodgers has set her sights on becoming a hospital chaplain.

“In March, my friend was in the in the hospital,” Rodgers said. “The head nurse said why don’t you become a chaplain we need people like you. Evelyn passed away, and I thought, ‘okay, she’s my last patient. I’ll just work on becoming a chaplain.”

A Childhood Marked by Hardship

Returning to school was not an easy decision for Rodgers, whose early education was cut short due to discrimination by the other students, she said.

“When I was little, I went to school until second grade,” she said. “They would stone me and my brother. (My parents) took us out of school. They would rather us be alive.”

Rodgers, born in 1973 and one of 17 children, lived with her family in Klamath Falls.

“Our dad was a timber faller,” she said. “By the time I was 8 years old I was already going to the woods with my dad. We went to the woods with our dad and helped him pile brush. In the winter we would plow snow.”

Starting Over as an Adult Learner

When Rodgers was about 19 years old, she moved to Reno and worked at the international airport. It was the first time she had been around people with racial diversity.

“I moved back to Oregon when I was 23,” Rodgers said. “At 24 years old I started a trucking company with my brothers. We sold it in 2009 because fuel (prices) skyrocketed.”

That’s when Rodgers decided to try going back to school.

The entrance exams at Portland Community College were difficult, she said, since she didn’t know much more than addition and subtraction and communicated in a blending of Spanish and English.

“It was really hard,” Rodgers said.

While those struggles are in the past, she remembers the support she received from her instructors.

“Kirk Perry – I will always be grateful to him,” Rodgers said. “My first essay was only 500 words. I took hours to write it.”

When she got her graded paper back it was covered in red circles and lines.

“I busted out and cried,” Rodgers recalled. “When I was little, I got a red check mark. For some reason when I had so much red on my paper it was worse than when I was 6.”

She spoke with Perry after the other students left, she said. She told him that she hadn’t gone to school and that she’d done her best on the paper.

He explained the assignment in more accessible terms, gave her reference books and a couple of days to redo her assignment.

“The culture of school is so different,” Rodgers said. “I was at a job that I was almost by myself. I felt behind.”

Rodgers said she not only had to learn how to use a computer, but she had to learn how to read as she was learning how to write.

Balancing School and Caregiving

That year also marked the beginning of taking care of her sister Abby.

“We have a disabled sister,” Rodgers said. “In 2009 my brother moved down here. Our parents passed away. He asked me if I would mind bathing my sister. I said I don’t mind at all.”

Because she and her brother shared caretaking responsibilities, they each could only get a part time job.

“I said I should start caregiving for others,” Rodgers said. “By the time 2015 rolled around I started taking care of this little old lady who lived in Salem. She would call me when she needed to go somewhere, visit friends or see the coast.”

That job led to referrals to care for other people, some of whom she needed to travel with. That caused some hardship for her brother, but she did her best to schedule someone to help with their sister in her absence.

“Then in 2013 I had to quit,” she said. “My brother had open heart surgery, and I had to take care of my sister. He was a single dad. I couldn’t handle his two sons and my sister.”

She missed school and in 2021 or 2022 she returned and finished her associate’s degree, except for a science class, which she took at Warner.

“I did my science class and in 2024 I traveled around the United States,” Rodgers said. “In 2025 I graduated in June with honors. And then I graduate (Warner Pacific) in December.”

Finding Belonging at Warner Pacific

Her advisor at PCC encouraged her to go to a four-year university.

“I was going to quit,” Rodgers said. “Inside my heart it was almost like PTSD. What if they don’t like me. What if they mistreat me.”

Then a friend called her out of the blue, she said. Over dinner Rodgers said her friend told her not to quit and to consider Warner because it is a Christian school.

She toured the campus and enrolled in Warner’s ministry program.

“I said I’m not going to come to school if I can’t study the Bible,” she said.

“When I went to school, my whole senses were hiked up,” Rodgers said. “I just fell in love with school. I fell in love with Warner Pacific the way I fell in love with PCC.”

The scholarship she was awarded to attend PCC transferred to Warner, she said.

“I could see God’s blessing in my life,” Rodgers said. “You couldn’t go to school when you were little but look at all the professors and all the students who are still blossoming. Every class is like a beautiful challenge.”

Loss, Faith, and Moving Forward

Rodgers was concerned about the amount of reading she would need to do, given that she considers herself to not be a fast reader.

“How am I going to do that,” she asked herself. “I need to pray, take time to meditate, read my Bible.”

She timed herself and planned her reading time accordingly.

“I still feel like it’s a bit of a struggle, but I’m so excited to learn,” Rodgers said.

“In 2023, when I was at Warner Pacific, my sister died,” Rodgers said. “I thought to myself, I can either quit school again or mourn her in the evenings.”

Abby was “mentally challenged,” Rodgers said, but her sister had been her biggest cheerleader since PCC. Now, the Lord is her cheerleader, Rodgers said.

A Message to Others Who Want to Begin Again

Rodgers hopes anyone thinking about returning to school doesn’t feel intimidated.

“I would say no matter how old you are, just go and step in the school and ask,” Rodgers said. “I give highest praise to Warner Pacific and PCC. The attitude, their love and caring. It just is awesome. You feel welcome.  You leave with a sense of belonging.”

Story by Audrey Caro, Writer.