About Me
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Brigitte Franzen, Author
We never know where life will take us.
Growing up, I always hoped that my life would not be boring. Maybe I should have been careful what I wished for. It was an amazing journey, and a most unlikely one.
I am grateful for the way it all turned out, and for the human and four-legged friends I met along the way. There were always enough helpers who believed in me that I could continue, one day at a time, and one step at a time. Looking back, I can understand why people sometimes asked what possessed me to even try. It was the biggest challenge I could find at the time.
My memoir “Have Pigs, Will Travel” invites you to come along for the ride. I hope you will join me.
Biography
I like critters of all sorts: dogs, cats, horses, cattle, and, of course, pigs. At various points in my life, I owned or was owned by an assortment of each of them.
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Over the years, I supported a number of animal rescue groups, adopted rescue dogs and cats, and served as a foster parent for a rescue cat and her litter, turning them from hissing little ferals into Velcro cats that followed me around the house.
When my original plan of becoming a large animal veterinarian fell through, I majored in animal science/animal husbandry at the University of Göttingen in West Germany, where I earned a master’s degree. An internship on a Midwestern family livestock farm led to a job offer and subsequent move to the United States in 1980, eventually establishing my own hog farm, mentoring international interns and earning industry awards.
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Not quite 20 years later, market changes beyond our control forced a large number of us farmers to give up livestock production, ending a way of life for farm families where animals typically had a good life while they were growing up.
After a midlife career change, I worked as an investment advisor and Certified Financial Planner. Farmers are still “my people”, so I was happy whenever I could combine both skills and assist with estate planning or conduct business seminars for farm women and consumers from all walks of life.
Nowadays, I enjoy spending time with Leo, the 14 lb white-and-orange rescue cat who runs the household. Resistance is futile, life is easier if we do things Leo’s way.
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Leo, multitasking. He is keeping the ottoman from levitating while sending a message of “Feed Me” to his human servant.