GHS Banner

Jan White - 2000 Biography

For the most part things remain the same as they were in 1995; still live in the same house with the same mortgage, although the house now has a new roof, siding, windows, etc. Now we’re remodeling the inside since it’s currently decorated in an “early rummage” motif, as it has suffered severe internal damage inflicted by raising four kids.

Our oldest son Ryan (29), works for the DSS (Defense Security Service) after leaving the U.S. Border Patrol in April of this year; he hates it. He plans on returning to the Border Patrol as soon as he can. He loves the law-enforcement stuff and has even applied to the DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency) and the ATF (Alcohol-Tobacco & Firearms) for even more excitement. He lives in Nogales, Arizona on the U.S. / Mexican border. He has been dating the same sweetheart since college and there’s been talk of a possible martial relationship down the road.

Our daughter Heather (27) is still looking for a full-time teaching position. She has been substitute teaching in the greater Detroit area as well as Traverse City since she graduated from Michigan State. She is living near Detroit with her golden retriever Reilly, but is home for the summer (a lot cheaper!) while she works at a summer job. She doesn’t have any boyfriends at present, but always keeps that watchful eye out for a hunk.

Erik (16) is driving now; and isn’t terribly excited about having to pilot our daughter’s old 1988 Ford Tempo (137,000 miles on the clock) from place to place; “Geez dad, Matt’s dad bought him a used Porsche 911 Targa”, yeah right Erik, don’t hold your breath. He was on the honor roll this past school year in 10th grade and played on the high school soccer team. He loves golf and plans on playing a lot this summer in between the job he’s supposed to get, and helping his dad work on the house.

Jan-Michael (14) is jealous that his older brother is driving, so now he wants to take driver’s training this summer so he can drive in the fall of 2001. He loves basketball and played on his 8th grade team, as well as the Gus Macker tournament when it was in town. He also loves golf and actually won the Junior Golf Tournament for 13 years-olds a year or so ago. He does well in school and was on the honor roll as well. And, he’s getting really good on the drums! Spends hours at a time driving Karen and I nuts practicing along with his stereo at full-volume.

Oh yes, the boys and all of their friends have raging hormones.  This is the house that testosterone built! We always have tons of kids over and the boys spend hours on the phone (and AOL Instant Messenger) talking to friends, especially those of the female gender.  They are both into, and I use this term loosely; music. They consume hours on-line downloading MP3’s and burning CD-ROMs, which once burned, are never listened to again. Even though they have their own computer, they’re usually sitting at mine as I have more bandwidth and a faster CD burner!

Karen keeps busy running the boys around, although less so since son two now has his Tempo from hell. She also does all the shopping, cooking, cleaning, laundry, and yard work along with the added responsibility of decorating the on-going remodeling projects. I work about 50 hours a week and she about 80. We are both blessed with good health; no major ailments as yet save for a little CRS from time to time. I find myself writing things down just to remember them; I find it’s more difficult keeping lists in your head like we once did. Karen and I still have Janco International, Inc. which develops computer software for the automotive aftermarket, we’ve been doing that since 1982ish, have about 18 employees and continue to struggle with making payroll as well as dealing with the myriad of local, state and federal bureaucracies.

We also have a 120 lb. Old English Sheepdog named Arthur; hard to tell his front from his back. He rambles about the house knocking things over, running into furniture, walls, etc.