MARY JANE 'JANI' ANDERSON STOFFLE

While at college I worked in sales raising my two superb sons, getting semesters in as I could. For about seven years I worked as a happy dental assistant but needed a better income. After my divorce, I joined The Coleman Company looking for experience and a chance for advancement.
During my twelve years at Coleman, I met and married Jim Stoffle. At age 33, I instantly went from two children to seven, with my first grandchild on the way and I finally had daughters...five of them! What bliss. We built a rural home in Augusta, Ks. We played a lot; tried our hand at raising cattle, horses, chickens, rabbits, etc. and while loving rural living, found that we did not have the savvy to make farming more than a fun hobby for the family. Lots of really funny stories though.
Jim and I left Coleman to become entrepreneurs in 1985. We spent the next twenty three years building and enjoying the sales and marketing of business incentive and promotional products. Great American Incentives was sold in Dec. 2008. A year or so later we retired and found a beautiful second home in Punta Gorda, FL.
We now travel a lot and work together on things we mutually enjoy. So far, our health is good. We are enjoying watching our kids' successes (all seven of our kids are college graduates+, happy and successful). We now watch our grand-children gown up but our youngest is almost a teenager and several are adults with their own families...amazing how time flies.
Its been a fun life thus far. We look forward to a productive enjoyable retirement.

Cloud Elementary, McLean Elementary

Pleasant Valley Junior High

An unnamed friend (J) and I felt the early call of warm spring days our junior year and decided to cut classes. all of them. This was going to be a first for me. We quickly hatched a plan.... My brother, Doug, a senior at the time, left his keys hidden in his car and because I knew where to find them and was recently licensed to drive, I suggested we merely hop in and take a drive to figure out what to do next. Well, second hour, while in a west side annex (Mrs. Morse's classroom near his car) Doug noticed his car was missing and assumed it had been stolen. He immediately went to the office and called our dad who promptly suggested that he'd better check to be sure Sis was still in school before calling the police.
After a delightful day playing in the parks and sand bars around Riverside, J and I, headed back to school and parked his car in "his parking place" with keys stowed back to their hiding place. I casually waited for him to wrap up after-school activities and cheerfully met him at the car for a not out of the ordinary drive home. He said not a word. We arrived home just before dinner. Little did I know he and everyone else in the family were fully aware of my day of truancy and the anvil dropped as we sat down for dinner. My Dad had a way of making his point. No voices were raised. Only a scathing, guilting speech. Thirty or so minutes later, we all began to eat a cold dinner, mine through tears and a snotty nose, totally shamed. And for days I got the cold shoulder from brother Doug. (Don't recall that I ever drove his car again.) Well, this day wading the river, fun as it was, was the last day I ever considered jipping school. No one at school seemed to know, as I was never called to the office. Go figure? I've wondered if a parent had anything to do with that but never asked. My father was always a strong influence in my life; very imposing. As was often the case, his weighted words were a meaningful lesson. I never missed school again, for any reason!!