by Sheli Ellsworth
Patricia Caloia had two choices after graduating from Elsinore High School. Did she want to be a nurse or a teacher? After four years at UCSB, she was qualified to teach secondary English and Math. She received a Singer sewing machine and a Betty Crocker cookbook for graduation. All she needed to set up housekeeping was a husband.
But during the graduation process, fate had another plan. She was handed her student computer punch cards for the administration office. Fascinated by the idea of holes that could spawn information, she studied them until she deciphered what each said. Inspired by an acquaintance studying computer technology, Caloia snuck into a programming class. The rest, as they say, was history.
“In 1962, computers weren’t common. My parents were shocked that I wanted to be a computer programmer,” Caloia says. “Programming was a tedious, repetitive task eventually relegated as women’s work. But when my folks realized I was making more money than my dad, they came around.”
She started at Douglas Aircraft programming business applications and later moved to TRW. “I became head of an all-male group that maintained systems for TRW’s business sector.” Caloia transferred to the scientific sector supporting Federal Aviation Administration contracts. That led to the FAA’s technical center in New Jersey. Still following FAA contracts, she wound up in Camarillo on loan to Unisys. Loving the coast since her UCSB days, she purchased a hillside home in Ventura, but Unisys lost the contract.
Needing income, Pat bought into the candy vending machine business. She traveled around Ventura County stocking machines, collecting coins and baking cookies with broken M&Ms.
Fortunately, a former FAA employee started an air traffic control software consulting
company and asked Caloia to help maintain the ATC software at England’s CAA—equivalent to the FAA. Excited to live overseas, it was also an awesome opportunity for her young son. The home was rented out and they moved to London. “The England experience was wonderful. My son became a Sea Scout, vowing to defend the Queen.” Caloia recalls standing in the control tower at Heathrow, watching the Concord land. Her mother even visited London to see the sights. “Mom never did understand my job. She just knew it had something to do with airplanes and computers.”
Three years later, she went to New Jersey contracting with the FAA. They returned to Ventura in time for her son’s freshman year at VHS. She considered early retirement, but fate was not finished with Caloia. She received another offer from the CAA. Caloia and her son moved back to England. “It felt a little like going home.”
After two years, they came back to Ventura. Her son graduated from VHS and headed to Santa Barbara for college. Caloia continued consulting on air traffic control software in New Jersey, El Paso, and Raytheon outside Boston. Eventually, she longed to return to California.
Caloia had invested in real estate through the years, and retired in her Ventura home. These days she oversees her properties, enjoys gardening, walking, and always theater. She supervises a writer’s group and is working on a couple of novels. She recently completed a fun children’s book for her grand-daughter: London Magic based on their unique experiences across the pond. She is a voracious reader who enjoys the occasional lazy afternoon with a book and her rescued cat, Patch.
Caloia loves living in Ventura. “It has the conveniences of a city but with the feel of a small town. If I choose, almost everything I need is within a couple of miles.” Her favorite places are So Cal theatres, the beach and on a plane. Occasionally she finds herself snorkeling in Hawaii or flying to visit her son, daughter-in-law and grand-daughter in Maryland.
