After eight years in Chicago, the Bowsers were brought up to Minnesota from Illinois by the Target Corporation for which Jim was vice president in store planning, architecture, and engineering.
How did they find Victoria?  It was Jane's doing.  "We had a realtor, and he showed us pictures of houses.  Being from New England I said, 'I want to see that house.'  The realtor said, 'You don't want to live way out there.'  I said, 'I want to see that house!'  So we walked through the front door and got as far as the little bathroom and I said to Jim, 'This is it!  This is it!  This is it!'  He agreed.  We wanted to live in Minnesota.  We did not want to live in Edina or Minnetonka.  That would be like living in Chicago.  We wanted Minnesota."
They moved into the red colonial on 73^rd Street, perhaps the only red colonial in the State of Minnesota, said Jane, in 1978.
During the 1980's Jane was taking classes to be a dental hygienist, getting very serious about it in 1990, graduating in 1992 from Normandale College.
"That was a huge deal!" stated Jane.  "I'd get up at four in the morning to study.  Nothing that goes in my head after three o'clock in the afternoon stays."  Jane's studies and class preparation were in addi-tion to being a wife and mother to three young children.
Life was good for the Bowser family as the years went by.  Daughter Jean graduated from Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa.  Sons John and Joe graduated from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa.  Jane attributed her grow-ing weariness to everything but high blood pressure.
"When people would ask how I was doing, I'd always say, 'Fine,' ... because it came on so slowly," she explained.  "I would think it was everything else, but I am not a lazy person.  I had a hundred other reasons.  Only now do I have my life back.  I feel like a million bucks."
Jane said she was first diagnosed about four years ago when blood tests revealed something was wrong.  She visited a nephrologist who told her she probably had ten years on her existing kidneys.  "But within two years, they were pretty well shot," she said.  "I told the doctor I wasn't expecting this conversa-tioin for another seven or eight years."
Dialysis began at that time, which is about 18 months ago.  "It takes 45 minutes each time.  When it increased to five times a day, that's like five hours out of each day for dialysis.  Now I have all this energy plus the time to do things I want to do.  I feel like that old flea bag Jane Bowser is gone."
The only way to rid herself of the dialysis routine was to replace it with a new kidney.  Only one kidney would be enough.  "My family didn't match," she said.  "I had a lot of antigens.  I had devel-oped antigens against my own kids.  My blood attacked everyone else's blood.   And my sister had a coronary and couldn't be considered.  To be a donor you've got to have a match and you've got to be healthy."  Dialysis continued.
"Then Trudi was visiting me this past April and saw how sick I was.  She said she wanted to be tested, so we went to the University and she was a match.  She had the same blood type, and she had no anti-gens.  It was perfect.  We were going to do it in January, after Christmas, but I got pretty sick."
Trudi and husband Greg drove up from their home at Mount Propsect, Illinois, a couple days prior to the Octo-ber 30^th date of surgery.  They drove because they didn't need or want the extra stress of waiting in lines at airports.  Remember, there was also terror on the world stage.
How long were they in surgery?  "I have no clue," laughed Jane.  "I was out of it.  I do know we didn't even check into the hospital the night before, but only that Tuesday morning."  Trudi was home four days later, and Jane, five days later.  Trudi and Greg stayed in the red colonial in Victoria for another six days.
Did Jane have pain?  "No," she replied.  "I have a high pain threshhold, and I don't like drugs.  In a couple days I was down to some Tylenol."
How is Trudi?  "Trudi was having a hard time with all the accolades," said her friend.  "She has been getting a lot of interviews and press in Illinois, but she doesn't think she deserves all of that.  It put a lot of stress on her."
"I was aware of that," continued Jane, "and I didn't tell her how much it meant to me.  If for any reason she changed her mind, I didn't want it to matter.  We didn't talk the emotional issue.  I didn't want that pressure on her.  Even now it's tough on her.  She says she feels she has to be a better person now.  I told her she just couldn't become a better person because then we couldn't be friends."
Jane's large and familiar laugh fills her comfortable kitchen.  Then she adds, "Personally, I think Trudi deserves the world."
Needless to say, the transplant was a great success.  "The first thing we did when we came out of surgery is ask about the other," said Jane.  "But I went from feeling like something the cat dragged in to feeling better and even healthy, while Trudi went from feeling healthy to feeling very tired."
Jane said that Trudi's scar is about three inches long, and that a new technique called laproscopy was used.  They put Trudi's kidney in front by Jane's stomach.  It's about the size of her fist, but it doesn't bulge out anywhere.  Her old kidneys are still in place doing what they did before the surgery, which is nothing.

A call to Mount Prospect, Illinois, amplified, verified, and certified that the friendship between Jane Bowser and Trudi Thalmann is no small thing.  Said Trudi on the evening of December 3^rd, "I've really had time to reflect and know that it's a blessing to me.  I feel so blessed that I've been able to do this.  Friendship is not something you repay, but Jane and her family are very dear to me.  She needed a kidney.  I have two.  I only need one."
Trudi believes she will see her friend more often because of the new bond.  "We will have kidney reunions!" she laughed, then added, "Actually, I think it was more stressful on the husbands and children.  It was kind of an easy thing for me to do.  I'm a little sore, but there was no real pain, and every time I talk to Jane, I feel better.  It's been rewarding.  It's been awesome.  It is such a positive experience."

Since the transplant, Jane is required to visit the clinic three times a week to adjust medications.  "It's monitored all the time," she said.  "Eventually the visits will go down to once a month, probably for the rest of my life."
Jane also spoke of her best boyfriend.  "I could never have done this without Jim," she said.  "Jim retired August 17^th.  He's only 55, but he made 
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