Stop for a minute and think only about a toothbrush.
Make it the most favorite toothbrush or, better yet, the worst one ever. Doesn’t matter if it was a straight one or an angled one or a non-slip grip one or a flexible one.
Now, let these facts sink in … not everyone owns their own toothbrush let alone their own vehicle or home or even their own pillow.
“That’s why, at this time of year, I always think about our blessings, and that was something my Dad (Jim) always said to me,” explained Jamie Bordas, managing partner of the Bordas & Bordas Law Firm. “He started out every day just thinking about his blessings, and he started with things like a toothbrush, and he would thank God for having a toothbrush. And then he would go to a pillow next, and then water.
“And he would go from there,” he said. “He always started with the little things we all take for granted and he said he did that to remind himself how many blessings he really did have because there are people out there who do not have a toothbrush or a pillow. I’m not as good at that as he was, but I am trying to get better at it and the Thanksgiving holiday is a great time to work on it.”
Jim and his beloved bride, Linda, found Bordas & Bordas in 1985 and today the firm has offices in Wheeling, Moundsville, St. Clairsville, and in Pittsburgh. Jim and Linda received a plethora of community awards, including the Light of the Valley Award from the Wheeling YMCA and the Good Samaritan Award from Youth Services System.
Unfortunately, Jim passed away in September 2019.
“I still have people who come up to me and tell me stories about my father, and I love when they do. Evert time I hear a new story, it brings a smile to my face,” Jamie said. “It just makes me very happy to know that he touched so many lives and that he made a positive difference in someone’s life. The fact people have not forgotten the good he did means a lot to our family.
“When I hear about things he did for other people that I never knew about, it means the most because he just never stopped trying to help others,” he said. “I’ve had people come up to me at the grocery store and say, ‘Hey, I know you don’t know me, but one time your dad did A-B-C for me, and I just wanted you to know.’ Every time I hear about something new means so much to me.”
Examples
Jim Bordas was raised in Charleston and was the oldest of nine children. He was a high school football champion and most valuable player, and then in 1972, he met his wife at West Virginia University, they married nine months later, and soon after moved to Wheeling.
It did not take very long before the couple made a most positive impact on the Friendly City.
“About 10 years later, my Mom decided to get her law degree and once she did, they started the law firm,” Jamie said. “My father offered me advice my entire life as his son, and later on a professional level from an experienced lawyer to a younger one, and I cherish it all to this day.
“I first started working with him in 2000 following my graduation from Notre Dame, and very quickly I learned so many things from him that I was able to become the managing partner of the firm in 2005,” he said. “I was very fortunate to run the law firm with him still here for 14 years, and that allowed me to go to him every day to ask for his opinion on any number of things.”
And, during the three years that have passed, Jamie and his team have experienced continued success.
“Thanks to those conversations with my father, I’ve not had a single time when I didn’t have an answer for something because I could hear him still giving me that advice. That’s how much our conversations meant to me, and I can hear him sometimes saying what he always said,” Jamie recalled. “Because he allowed me to become the managing partner so early in my career and experience those situations with him here so I could ask him, I’ve known what to do.
“I can’t explain how thankful I am to him for preparing me so well that today I am able to operate a major law firm,” Bordas explained. “If he had not done that, I’m not sure how we would have handled certain situations, but thankfully he made sure I was prepared because my father wanted me to become the best attorney and the managing partner as possible, and I owe him for that.”
Handed Down
Bordas & Bordas is the legal partner of the Pittsburgh Pirates since 2015, and in 2022, the big-league ballclub and law firm partnered to contribute nearly $25,000 to the Humane Animal Rescue of Pittsburgh.
The firm also partners each season with the Pittsburgh Steelers with the Steelers Sacks for Kids program that, in 2021, raised $33,500 for the Ronald McDonald House near UPMC Childrens Hospital.
Both initiatives, Jamie insisted, were important to his father and both remain paramount with the Bordas family.
“It is important to me my wife Stacy that we pass along to our kids what my parents taught me, and one of the biggest things is to be kind,” Bordas said. “My parents taught me how important it is to be good to people and to be a friend to someone who may not have any. They always reminded me that we may not know what someone else is going through and that’s why it’s so important to be a kind person to others. It just may make a difference to someone, and that’s why the firm remains involved with those programs in Pittsburgh and many others in the Wheeling area.
“My parents also taught me to be a compassionate person when it came to others,” he recalled. “There are times when I think I can hear my father offer me that advice, and it just makes me smile because he would say I should always keep my cool because maybe the other person is just having a really bad day.”
His mother, too, has remained a mentor.
“My Mom has always been a great sounding board for me, and a terrific advisor to me whenever I’ve needed to talk something through,” Bordas said. “She remains active in our bi-weekly attorney meetings, and that’s terrific because it always is a great thing to have experience at the table. It means a lot when you believe you have the right answers, and it is confirmed by someone with so much experience in law.
“I’m very fortunate to be able to call my Dad a blessing, and I’m very fortunate that my mother is still with me and my family, and that is a blessing, as well,” he added. “And, of course, my wife and my six children are blessings in my life every day, and so is my brother, Ben. I’m just very fortunate to have a lot of blessings in my life.”
