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Today's Featured Biography

 
Janet Borgman Smith

A lot can happen in fifty years.

Growing up in Blue Springs and attending school there from kindergarten through 12th grade was a wonderful experience. But shortly after graduation, life took an unexpected turn, MODOT condemned our family farm, and my family relocatted to Odessa, Missouri. That is where I still live today. The site of our old farm is now part of Lake Remembrance, just off I-70 and Adams Dairy Parkway.

Back in high school, I remember a coach telling us that only about 4% of Blue Springs graduates went on to college. I knew I wanted to be part of that 4%, but as a farm kid, money was always tight. If I was going to make it to college, I had to earn it myself.

So, I joined the Army and spent six years stationed in Germany, where I learned about duty, honor, and country. I also began my education and saved every penny I could to one day attend college full-time. After being honorably discharged, I returned to Missouri with my young family, one child already born and another on the way, determined to pursue my dream.

It was not easy, but I did it. I earned degrees from the University of Central Missouri (BS), Colorado State University (MBA), and the University of Missouri (PhD). It took 15 years. My children grew up thinking every mom went to PhD school! I dedicated my dissertation to my youngest daughter, who helped me with data collection, those lessons clearly stuck with her.

Today, my son Adam is an attorney working in New York and Dallas, married to the lovely Mindy. My daughter works for a major national bank in San Francisco, where she leads a team of 700. And I am a proud grandma to Logan, the absolute light of my life.

Over the course of my 32-year career, I taught at the college level and worked in industry, specializing in engineering, finance, and statistics. I ended my academic journey at East Carolina University and concluded my professional career at Burns & McDonnell Engineers in Kansas City, where I oversaw professional certifications for more than 7,000 engineers across the globe.

In 2020, I lost my beloved husband, my best friend, a brilliant physicist and chemist, to cancer, just as the COVID pandemic began. He was the love of my life, and I miss him every day. The last few years have been filled with loss: my dad in 2015, my mom in 2018, my husband in 2020, and my dog in 2021. It has been a difficult road.

Before he passed, my husband encouraged me to open a small storefront in Odessa: Borgman's Farmstead Store. My daughter is planning to return home to help me run it. Business is good, and I have just purchased a historic building that I am in the process of restoring.

In many ways, I have come full circle, back to my roots as a third-generation dairy farmer with Borgman's Dairy. If you are ever passing through Odessa, please stop by and say hello.

Update: On Christmas Eve 2024, I remarried. Terry Shapiro and I are starting a new chapter together. Life, as it turns out, does go on.

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