John Rathke

Chance rather than a master plan led John Rathke to the position of transportation services department manager for Mead & Hunt Inc.’s Green Bay office.

Rathke said he decided in sixth grade to carve a civil engineering path after hearing a classmate’s father speak about the profession.

The 44-year-old father of two teenagers said his life’s work could have been sketched around mechanical engineering if the classmate’s father talked about that field instead. Luckily for Wisconsin’s roads, Rathke paved his way to success by designing and administrating road projects of all sizes.

Wisconsin Builder wanted to pound a little more info out this former Oklahoma City resident. We had questions to ask and this month Rathke answered them.

What is the definition of success?

To be remembered as someone who didn’t always take the easy way out but worked without thought for oneself to improve our world.

The best sport to be a professional athlete in is …

Baseball. You are considered a great hitter if you succeed just once out of every three times.

I wish I would have learned to …

Fly airplanes and specifically jets. I love the idea of getting from one place in the world to the other quickly

If you could be a famous movie character, who would it be?

Maverick in ‘Top Gun.’ Love the speed and intensity of that movie.

What one word best describes you?

Passionate

What is one thing you’re embarrassed to be good at?

Gaining weight. I can look at a cheeseburger and gain10 pounds. On a side note, my ability to remember trivial pieces of information earned me the nickname Cliff Clavin, a character from the television show‘Cheers,’ in my family.

What in your life always seems to take too long?

Everything. Every project I work on seems to take a little longer than I thought it would. Driving also always seems to take too long. Even if my drive were only 15 minutes, I want it to be 10 minutes.

I would enjoy life more if someone would invent this … A means to stay in shape while sitting in an office desk and automobiles for an extended period of time.

If stranded on an island, what three things would you bring?

My wife and two sons. We enjoy experiencing things together as a family and, given that the island at least had some minimal means of survival, we would have a great time just living day to day building shelters and living off of what nature could provide.

The key to happiness is …

Accept who you are, live for today, remember the past but don’t dwell on it, and look forward to the future but don’tlive for it.