In my first years at Michigan, I wasn’t very happy. In my dorm at South Quad, my roommate and I were not very compatible. I did well in my studies but really had no social life and I felt pretty lost. In my second year at Michigan, I transferred to the Engineering School, which is where I wanted to be, and I roomed in a flat at a house with four guys I knew from high school. I liked these guys in high school, but as roommates, it didn’t work out. Again, no social life. it was very crowded, plus nobody could cook. The kitchen was a total disaster. Luckily, in the fall semester of 64, I met Warren Taniguchi ’66 in one of my engineering classes. He invited me to visit the Delta Chi house. The first time I went there I really liked the fraternity. It was a small, close-knit, and diverse group of people.
I pledged Delta Chi in the spring of ’65. It was a heck of a pledge class. Linn Petersen ’67 was the pledge trainer, as well as my big brother. We had a great pledge prank. As pledges, we couldn’t use the front stairs. So, we greased the stairs, so that the actives couldn’t use them as well. Then, we all hid out at Mike Novak’s ’69 house in Flint. Eventually, we returned to Ann Arbor, but the pledges and the actives still had a terrible time getting the grease off of those stairs.
In my first year in the house, I roomed with Phil Holt ’68 in the fireplace room upfront. It was a beautiful room and we had fun bringing our dates upfront to enjoy the fireplace. The TG’s on Fridays were always great. We weren’t the top fraternity at the time, so the girls that came over were mostly from Oxford house next door or from Phi Sigma Sigma down the street. We couldn’t get enough of Dale Bjorkland ’67 playing piano in the basement. I always wished I could play the piano like Dale.
A great thing about being at Delta Chi at the time was that upperclassmen, recent alumni, and grad students, were still around: Frank Morrey ’64, Duncan Kretovich ’66, Barry McGuire ‘65. They gave continuity to the fraternity and showed us younger brothers how things were done, especially how to party! After a party, especially a Purple Passion party, we would all go out at 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning for an early breakfast and try to soak up some of that nighttime
alcohol.
At Delta Chi, I enjoyed the athletics, the chapter activities, the homecomings, the parties, the football games, and even dressing up for dinner with our crested sports coats. When I tell my kids we dressed for dinner every night, they think we were crazy. My most enjoyable time was when I was ‘B’ and pledge trainer. I was proud of the pledge class: Jerry Newport ‘70, Mike Simon ‘69, Donald Leckey ‘67. They went on to keep Delta Chi going. My worst time was when I was “A” my last year there. We couldn’t get much done and we only pledged 2 or 3 people the whole year. I am still sorry I didn’t let Mike Novak ‘69 get the job as “A”. My saddest time at Delta Chi was when Larry Medow ’68 died of leukemia. We all donated blood to help him. He was called “Scummy”, I don’t know why. He was a brilliant fellow.
After college, I waltzed into General Motors and got a job at the Tech Center in Advanced Development. However, Uncle Sam wanted me to go into the army. I had a friend from high school who was applying to go into the Peace Corps and so avoid the draft. I applied too, and I went to the Peace Corps, but not my high school friend. I went to India where I learned about boredom, bureaucracy, and marijuana (or ganja). It was an eye-opening experience, being in India, but the Peace Corps and my experience there was nothing I could recommend to any young person.
After the Peace Corps, and traveling around for a while (or “wandering the earth” as I would call it), I met a girl from a small town in Michigan, got married, and had a child. We moved to Detroit and I got a job with Ross Valve Company as a Test Engineer. My degree from UofM was in Mechanical Engineering, but I enjoyed the electrical side of my job even more. I went to Lawrence Tech and took courses in electronics and became an electronic engineer. I then went to work for General Motors, first for AC Spark Plug in Flint, and then for Cadillac in Detroit, designing, testing, and troubleshooting automotive electronics.
Not wanting to spend my life at General Motors, I went into business on my own, Micro Logic Inc. I designed an electronic control unit for my brother-in-law’s company. Although not making me a lot of money, at least got me started. I have been working on my own now for almost 40 years. I design electronic products, hardware, and software. I worked with some large companies, but most small companies don’t have electronics-development capabilities. I will design them a product, build the product, and modify and update the product as needed. It becomes a long-term relationship. Presently, I am a vendor to NXP Semiconductor (formerly Freescale Semiconductor, formerly Motorola). I have known the people at NXP (Freescale, Motorola) for a long time, so it too is a long-term relationship. The Detroit NXP office specializes in microprocessors, sensors, and audio products. Their customers are primarily automotive: GM, Ford, FCA, Magna. NXP products are used in engine computers, body computers, ABS systems, radar systems, radios, etc. For NXP, Micro Logic designs prototype circuits demonstrating NXP products, and designs and builds circuit boards to allow software development of NXP microprocessors. I had an office there for a long time but now work out of my home, which is both comfortable and handy.
I have been married (third marriage actually) to my wife, Iryna, for 19 years. We have two children and live in West Bloomfield, Michigan. Our daughter is 22 and getting a Masters in Accounting from Case Western University this fall. Our son is 17 and will be graduating from Bloomfield Hills High School this spring. He will be going to Michigan this fall and studying in the business school. I tried to talk both of them into going into engineering, but with no success. For hobbies, we all like to ski, scuba dive, bicycle, hike, run, lift weights, and do yoga. We like to travel: ski trips out west, beach trips to the Caribbean, and tourist trips of Europe. With both kids in school this fall, Iryna and I were planning to do more traveling together, but the virus might put all that on hold.
As for advice to young Delta Chis I suppose I would say: participate in as many activities as you can, enjoy your friendships, and don’t take yourself too seriously.
In the Bond,
Sheldon Wolberg ’68
[email protected]
248-909-5963
