Ja ne tomodachi ("See ya, friends")

 Sensei Vern "Van" Borgen
Nov 2 1948 - May 13 2020

My name is Vernon Borgen, that's what they called me at work. Some friends and family called me Van.  My students called me sensei.

If you are reading this, it is too late to stop by for a visit, my body has been committed to the Void.

I was born in Watertown, SD in 1948. Our family moved to Fargo in 1958 and I graduated from North High School in 1967 and went on to attend NDSU, majoring in mechanical engineering. During the summers of my youth, I worked on the family farm in Veblen, SD.

After 4 years of college and without a degree, I joined the US Army, attended Salvage Diving School and was assigned to Naha Military Port in Okinawa, worked in the Naval Architect's office, and helped him design the world's largest self-propelled gantry crane. The SCUBA diving and snorkeling were awesome. After 2 years I was transferred to the Japan Engineer District just outside of Tokyo for 3 additional years. As part of an engineering team, I helped develop specifications and supervised the overhaul of a 33-megawatt steam turbine power barge that had been stationed in Okinawa after WWII, for transfer to the Trust Territory Saipan. I received the Army Accommodation Medal.

The old slogan, “you can take the man out of the Army but you can never take the Army out of the man”, describes me well. I believe that “Duty and Honor” are paramount to being a proper human being.

I returned to the United States at a time when young soldiers were held to blame for the atrocities of the Vietnam Police Action. I suffered from depression and anxiety. I had enjoyed my time in Japan and had found the experience deeply educational and had grown to admire the Japanese people and how they lived their lives. I decided to study a Japanese martial art.

I was enrolled in Mechanical Engineering at NDSU and I discovered a pleasant little judo club on campus. After 2 years the instructor graduated from NDSU and I took over the judo class. Over 32 years of teaching I had close to 3,000 students. The NDSU Registrar stated that the Judo class was the most popular evening class at NDSU and consistently was rated by the students as one of the highest rated classes on campus. 25 or so of those students became black belts. My students started judo schools in Dickinson, Bismarck, Moorhead, Alexandria, St. Cloud and two in Minneapolis. I continued to teach seminars after I retired. More than anything it was the wonderful people I got to hang out with.

Martial arts properly taught brings out the best in people.

My personal study of martial arts was primarily judo centered. I preferred the martial arts aspect of Judo. As I studied I grew in courage, knowledge of self, benevolence and how to get the best out of people, these coaching skills I used at work as a supervisor. I earned a 6th-degree black belt in judo and jujutsu, a 5th-degree black belt in Zen Judo, an offshoot of the Martial Arts Teachers College, the DaiNippon Butokukwai in Kyoto, Japan and a 3rd-degree black belt in Goshin Budo Jujutsu of Darrell Craig shihan. I studied Aikido and Iaido (the use of the Japanese sword). I was inducted into the 2007 US Martial Arts Hall of Fame as Instructor of the Year. I was recommended by Grand Master Jose Bueno, one of my jujutsu instructors.

I taught students that efficiency (good use of your energy) and working together are key pieces of an enlightened person. To live with peace and a purpose.

After graduating with a degree in mechanical engineering in 1979 I took a job as a Research Assistant at the Agricultural Engineering Department at NDSU. For five years I designed research facilities for the Experiment Station. Upon the retirement of my boss, I became the Experiment Station Engineer for the State of North Dakota and began teaching engineering classes. I was part of a great team and we made a lot of positive infrastructure improvements at the Experiment Station on Campus and statewide.

As a member of the faculty at NDSU I was encouraged to continue my education, was accepted to graduate school and have undeclared minors in biophysics, agricultural engineering, religion, and athletic training.

After 5 years at NDSU I applied for a job as facility engineer at the USDA Metabolism and Radiation Research Laboratory. As part of an engineering team, my first big project was the design and construction supervision of the Northern Crop Science Laboratory. The laboratory received many national architectural awards. I made energy conservation my thing and over the years developed infrastructure that currently saves the USDA Red River Valley Agricultural Research Center $500,000 annually in energy and operating costs. Over 26 years I received many energy conservation awards, in 1994 I was awarded the Department of Energy - Energy Manager award.

After I retired, my wife Carol and I moved to Custer, SD. We designed and built a solar oriented, passive and active solar super insulated home with a Japanese flair. I enjoyed hiking and rock climbing. Then in 2017, I was diagnosed with lung cancer.

I was married three times, the first time to a Japanese woman, Rumiko. The second time to Melissa, this bond brought daughter, Brittany. I met the love of my life, Carol, in 2002, we married in 2007, she is my best friend and we have had a most delightful, most excellent adventure. With my marriage to Carol we have 3 daughters: Amy, Kristen, and Brittany. All are happily married and are actively engaged in the world. We have two granddaughters and two grandsons.

I leave behind my mother, Carolyn Borgen Heintz; a sister, Diane Crawford and her husband Richard; my wife Carol; daughters Amy Ortiz, husband Daniel and granddaughter Aliyah; Kristen Rheault, husband Gabe and grandson Lindy; and Brittany Swanson, husband Brady, granddaughter Sloane and grandson Alaric.  And a lot of terrific friends!

Love to all.

"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise; seek what they sought." (Matsuo Basho. Japan. 17th century haiku master)

time will tell

This is likely to be the last blog wherein I share information about my medical condition. I have a lot of other small writing projects nearing completion so come back often for a look-see.

We met on Tuesday with our family physician, Joy Falkenburg and talked about “end of life” issues. She asked if we had had this conversation and we said no. She told us that the cancer tumor, toward the end, stimulates the production of pleural effusions (fluid in the lungs). And that it may be necessary to drain that fluid (thoracentesis) on a regular basis. Her goal is to make us as comfortable as possible with this aspect of my disease. I have to say that we both think Dr. Joy is an angel, we both love her so much.

My mother told me that her second husband, Bob Heintz, who died of lung cancer, was getting thoracentesis every other month before he died. My first thoracentesis was early this year, so I have a way to go.

A couple of weeks ago I had a thoracentesis. They identified about 2 liters of fluid but I stopped the procedure after 1,100 ml due to pain. The doctor called the pain pleurisy, it is considered normal as the lungs expand into the space previously occupied by fluid and lasts only a few hours ( the pain is excruciating). They gave me opioids for the pain. (I took 2 and put the rest away.)

I am not in any pain, there is some irritation in my chest, there is a lot of coughing and my stomach is upset most of the time, on occasion, I throw up for no reason and with no notice. For the most part, lung cancer really sucks!  Dr. Falkenburg prescribed a skin patch that is used for motion sickness that she thinks will reduce some of the stomach upset.

I told Dr. Joy that my on again and off again stomach made it difficult to plan anything in advance and she said, buy the tickets, take a chance, you may feel better that day and might enjoy yourself. Good advice.

The cat scan at the beginning of November showed a nonsignificant change in my tumor. It was remarkable, to me anyway, that the tumor changes shape, sometimes it is longer, it is kind of cylindrical shaped, sometimes it is bigger in diameter and then other times it looks more like a bean. I have been on Keytruda since January. But important to remember, chemotherapy agents for lung cancer, generally, don't work longer than a year or so.

I had another thoracentesis this past Thursday to remove the remaining fluid from my left lung, they removed 900 ml, for a total of 2 liters (2 quarts and a bit) in a month. I took the oxycodone before the procedure and that really helped me deal with the pleurisy pain. I was sore the rest of the day and breathing better. Dr. Falkenburg said in response to my question about why they don't drain the right side is due to the location of the tumor.

We met with Chamberlain McColley Funeral Home on Wednesday and made all the arrangements for my funeral. I was concerned about what Carol would do if I died on our trip and wanted to have everything sorted out before we left. I am going to be cremated in my judogi with a black belt and a purple heart jo that was made for me by Alan Duppler, one of my judo students. I will take the judogi and jo on the trip, if I die away from Custer, I would be cremated there and shipped back to Custer. I am going to be interred in the National Cemetary with Military Honors in Sturgis. Carol will have a wake in Custer for our friends here and then later in Fargo for friends and relatives there.

The biggest problem for me is breathing. Even with oxygen, it is difficult to move across the room without huffing and puffing and that is at a shuffling, half-mile pace.

I am thinking I have maybe 2 to 3 months remaining, Carol is thinking that it may be more like 6 months. I have beat the odds before, so she may be right.

I am keeping busy.  I read a book a week.  I have been writing about my experiences with judo and have correspondence going on with several judo experts.  And there is a fair amount of time just looking out the window, watching the trees dance in the breeze, deer grazing the grass and birds visiting the bird feeder, while drinking a cup of coffee. Life is good!

Again, I want to thank all of you who have kept us in their thoughts and prayers. You are all such wonderful friends.

Love,

Van

the "I Ain't Dead Yet" judo clinic

Shortly after I was diagnosed with lung cancer, Steven Zerr, the head coach (sensei) at Gentle Ways Judo Bismarck, messaged me about the judo syllabus that we had been using and wondering if we had time to preserve it.  This was July of 2017.

The syllabus that we had been using was shared with us by
Steven Cunningham sensei.  He studied with Sone Taizo, who emigrated from Japan in 1926.  Sone sensei had studied at the Kodokan, the home of judo, prior to arriving in the United States.  He brought with him a syllabus that he learned there, from Kano Jigoro, the founder of judo, that has since been lost.  Japan was entering a very turbulent time just prior to its entry into World War Two.  Dr. Kano was trying his best to keep the Japanese Army from taking over the Kodokan, as it had taken over most martial arts dojos.  I think that the turbulent times were the reason that the syllabus was lost.

I/we studied with Steven Cunningham sensei from 1996 through his retirement in 2006.  The syllabus is called the "Gokyo no Waza" and contains 40 throws of increasing difficulty, designed to teach situational movment.

I did a seminar in September of 2017 in Dickinson about the syllabus, then another one in October for my good friend Tom Crone, the head sensei at North Star Judo at Doc's Gym in Minneapolis.  If interested, here is the video posted from that seminar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kC98gtAp8_k&t=2017s

courtesy of Candace Decker, Dec 19, 2018, Dickinson Rough Rider Judo Club

That was followed by Kangeiko, our annual winter training festival in February 2018, where I had two hours to teach.  We had a six hour seminar in April of 2018 in Bismarck and then six seminars, two hours or less, that I taught on the way to and from Fargo, in Dickinson and Bismarck.

courtesy of Candace Decker, Dec 19, 2018, Dickinson Rough Rider Judo Club

The last two mini-seminars, this past April,  were tough on me because my physical condition no longer allows me to do the throws.  I dressed in my judo gi for the first one and was so disappointed with my performance that I didn't dress for the second one... the first time in over 40 years that I have done that.

I have been working on two papers about the Gokyo no Waza, one about the history and the other the practical aspects of the syllabus.  The first paper is about 30 pages and the second is about 40 pages.  Hopefully I will complete both of them before I go to that great judo dojo in the sky.

courtesy of Candace Decker, Dec 19, 2018, Dickinson Rough Rider Judo Club

courtesy of Candace Decker, Dec 19, 2018, Dickinson Rough Rider Judo Club

So recently we (our study group, four sensei from Dickinson and Bismarck) had been talking about wrapping up the research and having one more study session for a select group at our home in Custer.  It would be less doing and
more talking.  Carol and I were coming home one night from supper out and we were talking about this and she suggested one last seminar and the idea kind of stuck.  So I contacted the sensei in Bismarck and Dickinson and we are planning for the "I Ain't Dead Yet... I Don't Want to Go in the Cart" seminar in Dickinson on October 12th.


They are going to set up a chair on the side of the mat, I will have my oxygen machine on and plumbed to the side of my chair and I will do my best to yell and scream our way to perfection.  We are planning for two hours in the morning, followed by a two hour lunch, so I can return to the hotel and take a nap, followed by 3 more hours on the mat.  Another nap and then a social hour.  At least that is the plan, if I run out of energy we may have to modify that.


Thanks to Candace Decker, a former judo student, for allowing me to use her pictures for this blog.

right in front of my face

Funny how that works, it was right in front of my face and I missed it.

We wondered for years what was the cause of my lung cancer.  I had smoked in college and in the Army but gave it up when I returned to the United States in 1977.  The oncologist says the standard statistic they use is 15 years, after 15 years the lungs are considered to be healed and the risk of lung cancer is reduced to almost nothing, not zero but almost.

So one evening this past spring I was watching TV and a commercial for a law firm specializing in cases involving asbestos exposure during the military and lung cancer were seeking clients.  That big old "dah" and the slap to the forehead followed.  I had forgotten that I have received significant exposure to asbestos while I was serving in the Army in Japan.

I got involved in the overhaul of the US Army Power Barge Impedance in the summer of 1973 as an engineer, my official title was "ship surveyor".  The power barge was as big as a football field, oil fired steam turbin generator capable of 33 megawatts output.  It had been loaned to the Okinawa government after WWII and was being turned back, overhauled and loaned to the governement of Saipan.

The low bidder was the Subic Bay Naval Shipyard in the Philippines.  The bid was $1.5 million, which was a lot of money back then. We towed her there in January of 1974 and the work began.  The barge was loaded with asbestos insulation and as the dangers were unrecognized by the public at that time there were very little safety procedures in place for handing it.  As the hundreds of valves, pumps and other equipment was repaired the asbestos insulation was ripped off and fell to the floor.  I remember there was a white dust on everything for the better part of a year.  My office was on the barge, I breathed that stuff on a daily basis.

I asked a friend who is an attorney about the validity of the law firms involved in this and he said he would check it out.  He made contact with what he thought was a good firm and we filed paperwork. We haven't heard anything for about 3 months.  I am guessing that the firm is not interested as lung cancer from asbestos is hard to prove unless it is mesothelioma.  And I don't have mesothelioma.

In the mean time I have filed a claim with the Veterans Administration.  My doctor agrees that it is "as likely as not" that I got my cancer from the asbestos exposure in the military and that is good enough for the VA.   We have an appointment with the VA officer on Tueday to continue to work on the submission.

the boys are back in town

photo courtesy of Steven Reinhold

"The boys are back in town" is what my wife Carol says when the judo guys get together.

This past August we were in Fargo for my mother's birthday.  On Thursday evening us boys had a chance to gather for supper at the Porter Creek Resturant.

This is the yudanshakai, the black belt association, for Red River Judo, when I was still teaching there.

From left to right, Steve Reinhold, Clinton Adams, David Scott, Vern Borgen, "Vini" Vinicius Franco Siqueira, John Dixon IV and Jeremy Magelky.  Erik Jones was with us for a short while, but had to leave to make a meeting.  Holly Scott joined us for supper.  Steven Reinhold, thanks for letting me use your picture for my post.

Really special to see everyone again.

learning about hypoxia

We had a few days between doctor's appointments so we decided to tack on some adventures to the amazing Carol and Vern Excellent Adventure.

On Thursday we drove to Cheyenne, Wyoming to see the Union Pacific 4014 steam locomotive, called the Big Boy, the world's largest steam locomotive. The 4014 weighs in at 1.2 million pounds, 120 feet long, with 4 guide wheels in front, followed by two sets of 8 drivers, each over 6 feet tall and followed by 4 guide wheels – 4-8-8-4. The “Big Boy” was built for scaling the slope between Ogden, Utah and Cheyenne. There were about 25 of them built. Two of them are in Cheyenne. Only 8 are still intact.

Recently the 4014 has been rebuilt and the UP has been driving it around the country to show it off. What we didn't realize was that the 4014 was in the steam house (shop) which is not open to the public. We were able to see a Big Boy, 4004, at one of the local parks.

Apparently, the shop has tours  a couple of times a year, so if you are interested in seeing a working locomotive, you should check out one of the rare steam tours. The UP is planning to take the 4014 on tour at the end of September, heading for California and looping through Texas and returning through Nebraska. Check the UP website if you are interested in the itinerary.

We took the city tour in an old shuttle bus. It was a good tour, except the wood seats were killing my boney ass.

We toured the UP Museum on Friday morning before we drove west toward Laramie, through the mountains. The scenery was beyond compare. We couldn't believe how green everything was. We headed south at Laramie, across Colorado, to Granby. Turned at Granby and headed to the west entrance of the Rocky Mountain National Park. Showed our National Parks card and headed into the park. It was a beautiful day, sun shining, temperatures in the mid 70s and no wind.  The scenery was incredible.  We had hoped to see some leaves changing color, but it was early, we saw almost no color, a couple more weeks at least.

We were near the top of the mountain pass, we pulled into the Alpine Visitor Center, about 12,000 feet in elevation. I got to experience hypoxia, lack of oxygen. I needed to pee, so we drove through the parking lot and luckily got a handicap parking spot close to the toilets. I got out of the car with my portable oxygen machine, walked in front of the car, about 50 feet to the toilet, there was a line of about 20 people waiting so I headed for the back of the line. As I was walking I became aware that my breathing was becoming very labored, I was getting dizzy and things were getting darker. I looked at the curb and it was calling, saying, you need to sit down. I turned and saw a guy a few feet away, I asked him if he would help me get back to the car and he grabbed me and helped me back to the car. I was so dizzy. I don't remember that good samaritan's face, but I will forever remember his help. Thank you, sir, whoever you are.

We exited the parking lot, I was still in a daze. Noticed that my oxygen machine wasn't working properly, never thinking that it was not designed for that low of partial pressure. But it started cycling normally and I started getting oxygen. About 5 minutes from the visitor center, my thinking began to clear, I was still extremely short of breath but getting better. I put the oximeter on my finger and it read 60% oxygen, which meant that likely I was in the 50s, maybe the 40s in the past few minutes.

We drove down the mountain and spent the night in Estes Park. That is an expensive place!  The drive through Big Thompson was also very beautiful.  Lots of tourist traffic.

We drove into Fort Collins on Saturday morning and hooked up with a bunch of Bison fans at a local
bar and watched the Bison defeat the University of Delaware. Great game. Great group of people. We had a lot of fun. I hadn't slept well the night before so we found our hotel, late afternoon and I took a two-hour-long nap. Sunday we drove home through Cheyenne.

Nice little getaway. Dr.s appointment on Tuesday morning.

Summer projects

We had a great summer, got lots of small and some large projects completed.

We hired our son-in-law, Daniel, a handyman in Las Vegas, to work with us for the month of June.  It was a match made in heaven.  Daniel is a hard worker, we hired him by the month and he worked 50 to 60 hours a week.  When I say we, I mean that Daniel did the work and I sat in a chair and supervised the work... it turned out to be a great team, we had a good time.

We worked on several outdoor projects.  Daniel installed a small deck, 3 feet wide, next
to the patio doors in the master bedroom.  There is just enough space for a chair and it has a commanding view of the "zen" raked gravel garden, what the Japanese refer to as karesansui, a garden without water.  Daniel finished installing flower bed borders and installed an irrigation system under the gravel.  The deck gets the afternoon shade and is a great "zen" place to read a book or just sit for a spell.

Daniel installed about 30' of boarders for the entryway garden and filled in with pea rock.  And
Daniel built a lantern with my instruction.  He learned a lot about how to use a table saw with this project, there were lots of odd angles.  I would explain the next step in the construction at the end of the day and the next morning the work would be done, Daniel had gone out after supper and completed the next step.  This lantern took the better part of the month as we worked on it only short periods at a time.

Here are three pictures of the entry garden that I took today.  The rock retaining wall was another project that Daniel and I did several years ago.













The wood shed Daniel built last year and the lantern in the foreground is the one he built in June.  The boxwoods in the round garden bed are deer resistant, evergreen and will grow 4 feet tall.

We installed trim in the master bedroom shower using Ipe (tigerwood), the same wood you see being used for exterior decks, it is water-resistant and shower trim is a perfect application.  This was really finicky work and it took the better part of a week to complete.  It was a new skill for him so I really appreciated that he worked slow and got it right.  Before Daniel got here, one day I heard a hissing sound from the shower area and it went away before I could figure out where it was coming from.  Then the next morning, I discovered Obi, our cat in the tub trying to figure out where the hiss was coming from.  I guessed that one of the water hoses was leaking under the tub deck, so I turned off the water and as Daniel was due in a day, it was the first project that he accomplished, remove the tile panel and disconnect the plumbing for the tub faucet.  So my desire to not reinstall the plumbing under the tub deck, I fabricated a "steampunk" faucet that I think looks pretty appropriate to the house.

Lets see, what else?  I welded up some brackets and Daniel installed a railing in the tower room above the front entrance.  He used up some timber frame lumber from the house construction and built railings on the deck for the shop.  He installed trim on the fireplace surround.  He replaced the fuel line on the lawn and garden tractor.  He sorted through a ton of misc steel pipe, siding, etc.  He cleaned and organized the garage and shop.

We miss you Daniel!!!!!  You are such a good son-in-law!