Alison Godfrey has had a blast as a software engineer.

Now retired, Godfrey, who is in her mid-50s, recalled a career working on projects involving rocket launches and radar systems for American military defense heavyweights Raytheon, Lockheed Martin and Honeywell.

Godfrey got her start in software engineering as a math major with an emphasis in computer science where she learned to work on high-performance mainframe computers.

“A lot of people in those days had math degrees because people didn’t know where to place computers,” Godfrey said noting she chose this major because she loved math, science, engineering and working with computers came easily to her.

Her career started in an entry-level job translating programs related to Doppler radar for the U.S. Air Force.

“This particular group was studying looking at ways of trying to identify tornadoes quickly and getting tornado warnings out,” she said.

At Raytheon, Godfrey began working with rocket systems. One of the projects she worked on entailed building software to upgrade HAWK, a ground-based missile system.

“I worked with Marines directly to see the requirements they needed and if could we put those requirements in the existing system,” Godfrey said.

She wrote software to train military personnel how to use the system and software that translated analog signals sent by radar into digital ones. The signals provided data on aircraft detection and what type of aircraft — a jet or helicopter, for example — to help the military differentiate between friendly and unfriendly aircraft.

“Digital is easier for people. If you know how to read that [analog signals] it is extremely accurate, but it’s more difficult to read because there is so much data to interpret,” Godfrey said. “We took all those signals and made it into a more simplistic ‘yes’ or ‘no’ this is an actual detection, it is a helicopter.”

Godfrey who watched rocket launches at test sites said, “It was better than any video game you could play.”

After working for about 11 years at Raytheon, she briefly worked at another job involving a high-altitude balloon experiment in New Mexico before starting at Honeywell.

“Most people know Honeywell from reading their thermostat,” Godfrey said, but the company also has an aerospace division.

When she transferred to Honeywell Space Systems with the partner Lockheed Martin Targets and Countermeasures program to build rockets for military target practice, she served as a technical lead and as a certified principal engineer.

Building rockets is a long and intensive process.

“You have a good year of work for like 10 minutes of being able to shoot that thing down,” Godfrey said showing video footage of a particular rocket she worked on.

After retiring, and many years of visiting Montana, Godfrey finally moved into the dream home she designed in Kalispell.

“It took me a while to design this house taking all the lessons [learned] from previous houses — things we liked, things we didn’t like, things you’d want in your retirement home. Your dream home,” Godfrey said.

She lives there with her husband, Steve Alejandro, three chickens (Daisy, Rosie and Petunia) and beloved donkeys Ruth and Maggie who were rounded up by the Bureau of Land Management Wild Horse and Burro Program.

“They are the smartest of the equine,” Godfrey said. “We’ve had them since 1997. I picked out Ruth first, she was just beautiful and when she moved around Maggie followed her, so I thought, ‘Yep, that’s the second donkey.’”

Originally from the New England area, Godfrey first visited Montana when she was in college while traveling through on her way to a summer job in Yellowstone National Park.

“It was just beautiful,” said Godfrey, who enjoys all the outdoor activities the Flathead has to offer — biking, canoing and snowshoeing. Indoors, Godfrey enjoys knitting and sewing.

Even in retirement her expertise has been called upon.

In May, she was as a presenter at Expanding Your Horizons, an annual event for eighth-grade girls to participate in science, math, technology, engineering and medicine workshops.

She also has time to garden.

Godfrey attained Level 2 Master Gardner certification and is currently helping Kila School build a large school garden and outdoor learning center. In past years, she also helped West Valley School plant a native plant garden and insectary with the U.S. Forest Service.

From building bottle rockets with eighth-graders to deciding how much soil is needed in a garden, “You don’t want to have to become an engineer to see that math plays into pretty much every role in life,” she said. “You get to see where the math comes in and the science comes in. Kids may say they don’t want anything to do with engineering, but they still have a lot of fun with it,” she said.

Hilary Matheson is a reporter for The Daily Inter Lake. She may be reached at 758-4431 or hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.