New Trier remembers Jan Borja

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Caption: Jan Borja

Updated: February 13, 2012 2:34PM

Relationships. Community. Compassion. Those words were used again and again by friends and relatives of Janet Borja at today’s memorial service to explain why she was so special.

It was fitting the service was held at New Trier Township High School in Northfield as the freshman campus was Borja’s legacy.

Borja, 65, of Glenview, died Saturday from breast cancer.

She began working for New Trier in 1970 as a German and Spanish teacher. She advanced to leadership positions and became the first principal of the Northfield school when it reopened in 2001 for freshmen only.

“She was the heart and soul of this institution,” New Trier Superintendent Linda Yonke said.

Yonke thanked Borja’s family for agreeing to hold the memorial service in the high school’s Cornog Auditorium, “so a thousand of Jan’s closest friends” could attend. “Her friendships were broad and deep,” Yonke said.

Bonnie Beach, who chaired New Trier’s kinetic wellness department, enjoyed a long friendship with Borja.

“Jan’s door was always open,” Beach said.

Her ability and desire to connect with people was why the auditorium was filled with mourners.

“What great comfort it is (for Borja’s family to see) that so many people loved Jan,” Beach said. “I didn’t know an auditorium this large could be this intimate.”

Borja’s daughter, Kristin Endre, read a letter from her father, Jesus, in which he said he lost his “walking partner through the forest preserve and through life.” Jesus Borja wrote that he teased his wife about how often she used the word “relationship.”

But, to Borja, it was “all about relationships,” between family, friends and the community, Beach said. “She always wanted to extend the circle of care. She would say to me, ‘Let’s not leave anyone out.’”

Endre said she and her brother James “had the most amazing luck to have her for our mother. She was the sole reason both of us want to be teachers and make a difference.”

James Borja said he will miss his mother’s “guidance, love, smiles, wisdom and, most, her hugs.”

Laughter rang out when speakers mentioned Borja’s trademark “hugs.”

Yonke said “hug lines” formed when Borja welcomed staff members returning for a new school year.

The crowd also laughed when another friend, Linda Harding, described Borja as “warm, caring and annoyingly slim. She actually liked to exercise,” said Harding, who met Borja 32 years ago in a doctor’s office when both were new mothers. She “became my closest friend,” Harding said. “Ours were the bonds of motherhood.”

When Borja became chairwoman of the modern and classical languages department at New Trier, she hired Harding to be her secretary.

Harding got to see her friend at work.

“She was quite a force to be reckoned with,” Harding said. “People would storm in with their faces black with thunder (and a short time later) come out smiling broadly and duly hugging her.”

“She had time for everyone, no matter how busy she was,” Harding said. And her big smile meant, “don’t worry, we can do this together.”

“She connected people. She got them over their little feuds,” said New Trier School Board member Lori Goldstein.

Goldstein served on a committee examining the social and emotional aspects of high school, as New Trier developed a new strategic plan in 2004.

Borja “recognized the importance of educating the whole child,” Goldstein said after the service. “It’s more than just academics.”

Members of New Trier High School’s Student Alliance attended the service.

Jeff Salvadore, a junior, met Ms. Borja when he was a freshman in the Student Senate.

“She came and talked about the value of student government,” Salvadore said. Her words were “empowering,” Salvadore said. “She was a big inspiration.”

Harry Conkey, also a junior in the Student Alliance, said Borja’s “caring and kindness towards the students” was apparent.

“She changed the culture of the campus,” Michael Foy, a sophomore, said. “You can tell the difference between the Northfield and Winnetka campus.”

Students in New Trier’s concert choir, swing choir and string quartet performed several songs at the service, including “Hold Me, Rock Me,” “Hallelujah,” and, as people filed out of the auditorium, “When the Saints Go Marching In.”