News
Alumni Updates
The editors of the eDelt, our communication to Michigan Delta Chi fraternity members, have implemented a bi-monthly section called “Alumni Updates.” Our plan is to keep members in the loop in the forthcoming years by letting others know what is going on in their lives. Our success depends in having YOU tell us what is going on with you and others that you have communicated with. It doesn’t need to be earthshaking, It can be long or short. (If you can’t think of a topic, we might suggest the following as possible topics for updates: Where you are living, who do you work for and what do you there, who are you living with and what children do you have, what hobbies are you pursuing and what do you do for exercise.) We like to have pictures. Here is our September effort which we hope you enjoy. Direct your material to Frank Morrey ’64 at [email protected] or Keith Hellems ’62 at [email protected]
Rick Simon ’79 I graduated with my BSEE from U of M in 1979. I worked one year at Ford Motor Company and then thanks in part to Rick Mousseau, I got a job at Rocketdyne and move to Southern California in 1980. I got to worked on numerous projects including Space Shuttle Main Engine Avionics. While at Rocketdyne, I met my wife Verlyn, and future business partner, Dennis Kaloi. Verlyn and I were married in 1987 and now live in Westlake Village with our two sons, Tyler and Jake.
Dennis and I formed Simon-Kaloi Engineering in 1990 and have been working together since that time. We manufacture and consult in hi-tech electronic products and services. I love spending time with my family, playing music, fishing, and following Michigan Sports. I fly the Michigan Flag outside our house and engineered our doorbell to play “The Victors” and “Let’s Go Blue” Cheer! GO BLUE! [email protected]
Rick, Verlyn, Tyler and Jake
Paul Luch ’87 Carissa and I have now moved to St. Charles, Illinois. We were in tropical Appleton, WI for the last 7 years. Carissa’s company, Kimberly Clark, moved us to the Chicago area after 7 years in Wisconsin as they are opening a new building in downtown Chicago. We have been married now 34 years. While we were in Cleveland, I went back to school and finished my registered nursing degree. I am now a hospice registered nurse. I am starting my new job in the Chicago area with Seasons Hospice this week. I have retired from playing basketball and now play ice hockey. I have been playing for the last 23 years. I am joining a group that I played with previously in the area. In my free time I am enjoying driving my new 2021 MINI JCW GP. It is number 1193 out of 3000 made and hoping to get it out on the track next summer. So since graduation in 1987 we have been in Blacksburg, VA, Naperville, IL, Battle Creek, MI, Bradenton, FL, Aurora, OH, Appleton, WI and now St Charles, IL. We do not know where next but am looking forward to a warm winter. This is us at the Minnesota State Fair attending a concert. [email protected]
Keith Hellems ’62 — (Here is basically a 2020 Christmas letter since too busy as co-editor to put an update together) 2020 was a unique year for everyone. What a way for Joyce and Keith to bring in their 79th and 80th birthdays, respectively.
We took evasive action with Covid. Joyce switched in-person bridge for bridge online. This allowed her to play people from all over the world and also with her usual local bridge group. We’ve been playing weekly bridge with Joyce’s sister, Sylvia, and her husband Bob via Bridgebase.com. Keith and Bob are amateurs while Joyce and Sylvia are “semi-pro.” Out of the 30 plus meetings Bob and Keith won 3 weeks in a row, a very unique situation, so Keith had a trophy made which they proudly display.
Her volunteer prison ministry, Kairos, was put on hold since there could be no visits to the prison, so she continued her church work by helping our local Anglican church outreach program which teaches foreign people to learn English, especially conversational English. This is done via Zoom network.
While the nation was in shut down mode, Joyce made three quilts from material she had on hand which was found because we had plenty of time to look through stored “stuff.”
Keith continued to create albums out of albums. We had approximately thirty 1.5-2 inch wide picture albums collected over the years. Four kids and how to divide the pictures – the solution was to digitize the photos of the original albums and then make Shutterfly albums, including comments and details, and have one made for each child. This year he did #6, 7 and 8 covering 1983 through 1988. Either 111 pages or 1,000 pictures, whichever came first.
In 2014 Keith got involved with three other University of Michigan Delta Chi fraternity brothers to raze an old, tired fraternity house and build a new one. They raised one million dollars with 1,000’s of phone calls and emails. A new house was dedicated in 2017. What used to be a 25-35 member house is now the largest fraternity on the Michigan campus with 100 plus members. He is now working as a co-editor of a monthly Delta Chi email sent to all the members which takes a lot of his time.
This year Joyce and Keith have re-newed Scrabble games and watched more Netflix and Amazon Prime TV programs than ever before. Joyce enjoyed doing several 1,000 piece puzzles.
To keep our brains from completely rotting Joyce does “Codeword a Day” puzzles and Keith does “Wordscape” puzzles on his iPhone. We also do various courses from “The Great Courses” company (which I highly recommend).
Our four kids remain safe. Harper (son) and Martha have remained in Greenwood, Va. Kingsley and her family live about a block from us and they invite us almost weekly to eat dinner with them which we do at a distance. Kristen and her family live in Jackson, MS. Our youngest daughter, Kim, was in Daytona Beach for 6-8 months to complete a course in radiation dosimetry and now has her first job and lives in Norfolk, VA.
We hope all of you have found activities to carry you through this quite unusual year.
Bob Sielski ’64 Editor’s note: Since the co-editors are of the same vintage as Bob, we are fascinated by his ability to just keep running like the “Energizer” bunny. He has a July update to his continuing story and has given us his tentative September schedule which looks tough to us non-runners.
Feb 7, 2021 — I ran (walked?) the Melbourne Florida Marathon this morning. The course consisted of two 13-mile loops going north along the Indian River, crossing it going east on a causeway and bridge, going south along a residential road, and completing the loop by heading west over another causeway and bridge. During the first loop, thunderstorms developed and the course was closed, so I was only permitted to complete a half-marathon of 13.1 miles. I could have gone at a faster pace, but I was pacing myself for 26.2 miles. I finished number 209 of 224 overall. To maintain social distancing, they did not give out age-group awards. However, as I was the only male 75 or over, I would have taken first place in that category by default (although there was a 76- year old woman who finished four minutes ahead of me).
February 13 —I ran the Brevard Zoo’s Rafiki Run 3K this morning with grandsons Forest and Cameron. They left me in the dust, but I did finish #557 of 966 overall and #3 for my age group. I was beaten by one four-year old, and one five-year old, but better for them.
April 20 — I finished the Golden Driller Marathon in Tulsa, Oklahoma last Saturday, April 17. My time was more than 12 minutes faster than in my last marathon in November 2020, so I can’t complain. I finished number 215 out of 228 overall and number 139 out of 141 males. And I was number 1 for males over 75 by default. This makes my 37th state, so I have only 13 more states to complete.
States remaining: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York
I plan to run marathons back-to-back in New Jersey and New York on June 8 and 9, 2021, but those will be slow 26.2-mile events with no time limit.
I mainly run marathons, unless there is a local 5K event for a charity that I want to support. The 3K run with my grandsons on February 13 was to support our local zoo, and then I did a 5K the following Saturday for support of an Autism charity.
With the Covid-19 pandemic, many events have been cancelled, but I flew to Tulsa on April 15 with little difficulty, and the Delta Airline plane was about ¾ full.
I also swim and bicycle, and am planning to enter a sprint triathlon on May 16 here in Cocoa, Florida. ¼ mile swim, 12.5-mile bike, and 5K run. I am still working part-time as a consultant to the U.S. Office of Naval Research, but that has not involved travelling for more than a year, as the government is very restrictive on travel and open meetings for employees and consultants.
May 16 — I finished the Space Coast Triathlon this morning, Sunday, May 16, 2021. (1/4 mile swim, 12 mile bike, 3.1 mile run) I finished # 187 out of 190 overall. There were a bunch of other old geezers there too, and I was #6 of 7 males 70+.
June 8 — I finished two marathons yesterday, June 8 in Stokes State Forest, New Jersey and today, June 9 in Port Jervis, New York. Yesterday I finished number 34 of 48 overall, and today number 18 of 29 overall. That makes a lifetime total of 57 marathons in 39 states
July 5 — I finished the Firecracker 5K yesterday morning in Melbourne, FL. I finished #655 out of 1,030 overall, #329/444 Male, and #4/6 Male 75–79.
September Update from Bob as follows: “ I will let you know what happens. Next Saturday, September 11, 2021 is Patriot’s Run in Overland Park Kansas. The next Tuesday September 14 is Mainly Marathons in Chadron, Nebraska, and the following Saturday, September 18 is Mainly Marathons in Baker, Montana.”