Jon & Vicki Borlin

The College Years

August 1990, Jon and Vicki moved away from their repetitive homes in Chesterfield and Oak Grove to move into their new home on the fourth floor of the Ellis Dorm Complex in Warrensburg, MO to attend Central Missouri State University. Jon's educational focus was Aviation Technology, Vicki's was Fire Science. Neither one knowing that almost 8 years to the day they would be married.

During those first days in the Fall of 1990, Jon and Vicki met through mutual friends in the dorms. Jon's freshman year at CMSU (UMC) and Vicki's junior year were good times and they often shared a walk to class or attending a party with their groups of mutual friends. During Jon's sophomore and Vic's senior year, they shared an off campus house two blocks from campus on Broad Street. With Jon's one roommate (Jamey Tasker) and Vicki's three (Jen, Mary and Melissa), the house quickly became the place for after-hours activities. Jon and Jamey had recently been part of the founding of a new social fraternity, the Iota Sigma Chapter of Alpha Tau Omega. Most Wednesday nights, the house on Broad Street was full of friends and frat brothers doing what college kids do. But after Vicki graduated in 1992, Jon and Vicki wrote and occasional letter and visited once or twice. Vicki moved to Harrisonville, MO and worked as a reporter and editor for a local newspaper in town. She started her new life in the real world while Jon continued is education at UMC. Overall, they lost touch with each other during Jon's junior and senior years. December, 1994, Jon's graduation, Vicki was one of the only friends that attended the ceremony and as a gift, she bought him a poster.

A Story from Graduation:

A crowd of proud relatives recently gathered to watch my son's graduation from Central Missouri State University. After the formal ceremony was over, small groups of family and friends surrounded many of the nearly 2000 graduates to take pictures and offer congratulations. We looked on as an older gentleman with grey hair approached my son, shook his hand, and said: "Congratulations, Jon! We're going to miss you around here." The distinguished-looking man then quickly walked off. Curious about the identity of the well-wisher, we asked my son: "Who was that? One of your professors?" He answered matter-of-factly, "Oh, no. He's a bartender at one of the clubs downtown."

After College

In 1995, Vicki called Jon after a mutual college friend passed away. Prior to that, they had lost complete contact with each other. Jon and Vicki started to call each other on a more regular basis and eventually started making trans-Missouri trips to visit each other. Working for TWA at the time, Jon would jump on board a DC9 for the weekend to spend more time with Vicki in her new home of Cameron, MO, which was just outside of Kansas City. Jon and Vicki dated for almost two years and knowing that Vicki was the one, Jon started to look for a job in the Kansas City area.

The Accident

March 7th 1997, Jon and a friend of his were traveling from St. Louis to Warrensburg to see Vicki and some other college friends who was waiting for them at the ATO fraternity house. Jon and his friend never arrived. Jon was the passenger in the Grand Am that hit another car head-on due to a deer walking onto the highway. All occupants of both cars received serious injuries. Jon's injuries were more severe and a life-flight helicopter was called to transport him to St. Lukes in Kansas City. Eventually, news of a very serious accident that had shut down highway 13 coming into town reached Vicki and the friends waiting for them. Worry became panic as a group of them drove to the site of the accident and realized the mangled Grand Am was the car they were traveling in. Vicki arrived at the accident site just after Jon's helicopter had taken off. Being told that some of the accident victims were transported to Warrensburg's regional hospital, Vicki drove back to town to then find Jon. But he was not there but 100 miles away in a trauma room having his legs set. Eventually, Vicki make it to Jon's bedside at the trauma/icu at St. Lukes. Jon's injures were sever but non-life threatening. Jon suffered from two broken legs from bracing before impact, two broken ribs, chipped teeth and numerous facial lacerations that would need surgery. Jon's legs would need a metal rod and numerous screws to hold the bones together to heal. Three surgeries later, Jon would be on the way to a full recovery. For 10 days at St. Lukes and 10 months afterwards of hardships, surgeries, therapy and pain, Vicki never left Jon's side. During this time, Jon's employer, Trans World Airlines, made every effort to accommodate and help during this period of time.

Wedding

For the next couple years, Jon and Vicki lived in the home of Jon's parents while the continued their stay in Scotland. Of course they made it a point to visit Jon's parents twice and visit as much of the old country as possible. Late in the summer of 1997, during a vacation to Cocoa Beach, Florida, Jon asked Vic to marry him off a pier overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. She said yes and over the next eleven month, Vicki moved to St. Louis and found a job at a local hospital. With both sets of parents hundreds and thousands of miles away, the wedding planning was entirely Jon and Vicki's responsibility. A date was set and plans were made. The wedding was held at the Miraculous Shrine of St. Joseph in St. Louis on August 1, 1998, inn front of two hundred family and friends. The wedding was amazing and an event that is still talked about today by friends and family. The temperature was in the low 80s and the sky was full of small, white clouds. The reception was held at the Airport Embassy Suites which was completely full with guests. It was and incredible day. Jon & Vicki's honeymoon was taken at the Montigo Bay Sandals Resort in Montigo Bay, Jamaica. They enjoyed a three room cabana on the beach with a personal stocked bar and pool. The all-inclusive resort was a dream-come-true; all you can eat and all you can drink. But in-between the meals and drinks we skied, snorkeled, scuba, shopped, swam and sunned. The week was unreal. A good start to an amazing life together.

Life

Jon and Vicki moved out of Jon's parents home once they returned home from their three year assignment in Scotland. They moved into their first home in Collinsville, Illinois. The home was a typical 1960s all brink ranch and a large yard with mature trees and large garden. During this time Jon's employment changed from working with Trans World Airlines to AG Edwards, Inc. Using his experience with design and web development, he joined the Internet Services Department for AGE as a Website Designer. Also during this time, he held a part time position at the local YMCA as a lifeguard and swimming instructor. Vicki worked at Memorial Hospital in Bellville, Illinois as a Public Relation Assistant and managed the hospital's internal and external communication needs. She made many, many friends there and continues keeping in touch even today.

Jon and Vicki enjoyed spending time on their home which seemed to always need an upgrade or a fix to either the basement or yard. They enjoyed numerous trips to Kansas City to visit Vicki's family and entertained friends and family that would come to visit them. Vicki's pet dog Sammy had now moved three times since Jon came into the picture. And he was now joined by two cats, Pepe and Baby, and two ferrets, Spud and Tori. Needless to say, Jon and Vicki had a full house.

Jon & Vicki's Children

As Jon and Vicki settled into their life in Collinsville, discussions of family naturally followed. Unfortunately, for two years nature would not cooperate with them to provide them a child. So, they come to science and preceded with the option invetro-fertlization. On their second attempt of IVF, Vicki was pregnant with a boy. The pregnancy went very well and was highly anticipated by both families. Early in December of 2002 our son was born into this world at 8:46AM at 6 pounds and was 18 inches long. With both families present at the hospital, everyone got to enjoy the birth of the next generation of Borlin. Our son was a typical and happy infant and young child. He loved to be sung to and enjoyed being around anyone showing him attention. Once he was able to more and walk, he never stopped. Often running circles around the kitchen island over and over again. Then at the age of two, we told him he was going to be a brother. After being told by doctors that our son would be an only child unless we did another IVF treatment, we were more than supervised. In July of 2004, Tobi Ann was born as a little "surprise gift" from God. A little girl arrived at 5:19PM weighing 6 pounds, 14 oz and measuring 20 inches long and full of dark, long hair. She too was able to meet her many extended family members while in the hospital. And our son was happy and curious as to this new addition to our family.

Shortly after our daughter come home to Collinsville, discussion around moving to a newer home within a strong school district started. A home within the town of Troy, IL was found in a classic subdivision that boasted a finished basement and swimming pool and deck. So at the age of 1 and 3, our children had a new home with the now one pet remaining, Sammy.

Life in Troy

School quickly became the focus of the kid's lives. Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten classes were great moments to see their little minds grow.

2005 also welcomed a new place of employment for Jon, Sigma-Aldirch, Inc. As with the timing of leaving TWA for AGE just prior to it being acquired by American Airlines, leaving AGE for Sigma was very beneficial due to the company being purchased by Wachovia and then Wells Fargo. Jon was now a International Digital Manager for a life-science company in St. Louis called Sigma-Aldirch managing their online business. After our son was born, Vicki now manages the home and the many needs and activities of our two little people.

Our son's activities are as wide ranging as his interests. Once he started 1st grade, Jon and he joined the local Boy Scout troop in Troy where Jon is the Den Leader of a group of young scouts. Our son also enjoys athletic activities like Track and Field, Karate and Swimming. Our daughter's interests are mainly around Ballet dance and horse riding. She also has an interest in Girl Scouts and the outdoors. The kids have two ferrets, Baby and Bob, along with a variety of fish.

The Borlin family usually has a full schedule months before and activities happen. Summer weekends are full of camping to Carlyle and Shellbyville lakes, trips to Kansas City to see the extended Van Meter family, visits to Chesterfield to see Grandma and Grandpa Borlin or one of a hundred different events or parties for the kids.

So, here we are...what's next?

-- Jon