25-Year Rededication of Jane’s Park in My Hometown of Bremen

📝 This Week’s Real-Life Lesson:

25-Year Rededication of Jane’s Park in My Hometown of Bremen

There’s something sacred about small-town roots. The kind of place where everyone knows your name, where families go back generations, and the corner drugstore and church pew tell stories no history book ever could.

I grew up in Bremen, Indiana, a tight-knit Midwest town with fewer than 5,000 people. Jane and I were classmates in a school where our graduating class numbered just a hundred. From kindergarten crayon drawings to senior prom, our lives were intertwined in that innocent and enduring way that only a small town can foster.

Jane was my high school prom princess; I was her prince. But even long before we danced under those dim gymnasium lights, I knew she had a quiet strength about her. She was brilliant, kind, grounded in her Christian faith, and deeply committed to serving others. She went on to earn her doctorate in pharmacy from Purdue, while I pursued medical training.

We married as she finished her pharmacy studies, and I continued my journey through medical school. Together, we envisioned a life of healing, two professionals serving our community, raising a family, living out our faith.

But life had other plans.

When the Storm Came

In her early 30s, during a pregnancy with our second child, Jane discovered a lump in her breast. It was cancer. Not just cancer, but aggressive, metastatic breast cancer. The kind that doesn't wait. The kind that laughs at your plans and demands everything you have.

We faced an impossible choice. Jane's physicians recommended immediate treatment, but it would have endangered our unborn child. The other option, delaying treatment, jeopardized her life.

But to Jane, there was no choice.

“Every baby is a gift from God,” she told me, unwavering with a deep spiritually led resolve to not harm our baby, but to also to fight for both of their lives. And so we pressed forward in faith. Standard chemotherapy was administered during pregnancy, and our daughter was born six weeks early. Jane then underwent a bone marrow transplant, her best shot at survival. For a season, it looked hopeful. But 18 months later, she was gone. I was a widower, clinging to faith, holding two children under age four.

Her story, our story, was featured in Focus on the Family’s 1998 Mother's Day edition under the title "My Life For Yours", a testimony to courage, faith, and sacrificial love. There was many other media stories about our lives as we fought for her survival, and reluctantly accepted the pain of her being overcome by cancer. It hurt in a way that words can’t describe.

From Grief to Grace

I will never forget the cavernous ache of those early months, my own pain compounded by the unanswerable questions of two tiny children. And yet, God was faithful.

In time, I met someone incredible, a woman who would become my second wife, and with whom I would raise five amazing children. Our family story became one of restoration and hope. We’ve lived and worked here in Marshall County ever since, where I’ve spent my career as a rural family physician, serving my neighbors, my hometown, my roots.

Out of Jane’s story, something beautiful grew.

Jane’s Park: A Jewel of the Community

Just a year following her death, our community came together to honor Jane by building Jane’s Park, a children’s play area nestled within Bremen’s growing park system. It was a simple idea: create a joyful, vibrant space in her name, reflecting the way she lived gracefully, generously, and with unshakable faith.

This weekend, we celebrated the 25-year rededication of Jane’s Park.

Our entire family came together, our children now grown, spouses, grandchildren—and we stood in that sacred space surrounded by laughter, swings, memories, and tears. I was honored to speak during the dedication. I shared not only about Jane, but about the remarkable grace of God, who gave me not just one, but two extraordinary women to share life with, and the opportunity to serve as a healer in my home county.

The Surprising Micro-Business Insight

You may be wondering, what does this story have to do with being a physician entrepreneur?

Quite a lot, actually.

Because it reminds us that our businesses are deeply personal. The most successful micro-businesses are not built from sterile spreadsheets, they’re born from real lives, real pain, and real vision. They are shaped by the people we love and the legacies we hope to leave behind.

In Jane’s honor, I’ve dedicated my life not only to rural medicine but to empowering other physicians to build lives of intentional design. Micro-business isn’t about maximizing profits; it’s about maximizing purpose. That’s the heart of what we teach here at the Physician Entrepreneur Academy.

🧾 “Is This Deductible?” Sidebar

We donated a few thousand dollars for the new rededication plaque at Jane’s Park. This was done using our donor-advised fund (DAF)—a powerful tool for charitable giving that also offers substantial tax advantages.

👉 Learn how to use a DAF in your own micro-business journey.

📚 Want to Learn More?

📘 Grab our free e-book: Why Every Doctor Should Form a Micro-Corporation Learn how autonomy, tax savings, and mission alignment can shape your professional story.

🧭 Need a compass? Use my e-Book Balancing Life and Practice, the Micro-Corporation Advantage to clarify your next move.

🎓 Ready to build your own purpose-driven platform? Explore our course: Doctor, You Are A Business

📬 Join the Movement

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” — Howard Thurman

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