The Arizona Beta Chapter of
Sigma Phi Epsilon
The University of Arizona
I can barely remember graduation night back 56 years ago when brother Ruben Donnadieu and I sat with our group of graduating engineers at the stadium, while each took of us took a tassel out of our caps and tied them together to serpentine through our row. That kind of brotherhood has stayed with me throughout my life.
Entering the AT&T management training program in Kansas City after graduation would begin a 32 year career with the Bell System. That December I was drafted into the US Navy where I began a parallel career working for our ‘rich Uncle Sam’.
After Boot Camp in San Diego, I was accepted to OCS in Newport, Rhode Island. My first permanent assignment was in Kodiak, Alaska. One of my collateral duties was snow removal officer, which made a lot of sense since I had spent eight years in the desert of Arizona and the previous six in Hawaii. After 22 months in Alaska, with my wife Helena Spear (Kappa class of 1954), we ventured down the then primitive Alaska Highway and reported to the Naval Hospital at Camp Pendleton as Public Works Officer at this 1,000 bed hospital. More adventures followed.
Released from active duty in July 1959 I returned to Mountain Bell in the Phoenix Engineering Department. At the same time I affiliated with the Naval Reserves. About a year later I was back in college in an AT&T part time electrical engineering program at the Boulder Campus of the University of Colorado. Completing this program in mid-1962, I completed the requirements needed to get my Professional Engineering license in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.
By January 1964, Helena and I had daughters Stephanie and Pamela and I had been transferred to Bell Telephone Laboratories in New Jersey for an eighteen month assignment. In mid-1965 returning to Phoenix again with the Mountain Bell engineering department, we settled down to stay in one place for a while. Joining a local Lions Club as well as two engineering societies and moving up in the Naval Reserves, as well as raising a family and earning a living made for a very full life.
Brother Ken Detweiler joined Mountain Bell after his graduation and we both became active in Teletalk Toastmasters. He too was transferred to Bell Labs.
At the end of the decade Helena and I were divorced and soon I was able to transfer to Tucson, where I became one of the District Engineers with the Telephone Company, and commanding officer of the local Seabee Reserve Unit. Within a few years I met and married Pat Dunford, a graduate of now Northern Arizona University. Before you knew it John was born and then Katie. John was only five months old when I was assigned to a Navy selection board in Washington and Pat and John went along for the ‘ride’. Katie celebrated her first birthday while we were in Boston for one of Pat’s meetings and we caught the travel bug.
About this time the Arizona Beta Chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon celebrated its 25th anniversary at the U of A and I was asked to give the talk at the banquet. This was a lot of fun but for some reason I cannot remember much of what I said!
Life has been a wonderful adventure with trips to the Peoples Republic of China nearly 30 years ago on a cultural exchange tour, New Zealand and Australia, Japan. Peru, much of Western Europe and every state in the union but North Dakota.
About the most rewarding activity I have been involved in occurred with the U of A Centennial in 1985 when ten of us started Old Pueblo Trolley to help with the festivities. This not-for-profit, all volunteer corporation installed over one mile of track, built overhead lines, restored two cars over a ten year period and began trolley service on 4th Avenue and on University Boulevard in April 1993. Volunteer operators and conductors operate 24 hours each weekend with the cars carrying up to 34,000 passengers yearly. There is no city financial subsidy as OPT relies on fares and donations to raise the $50,000 or so to finance operations.
We are proud to note that the advent of Tucson’s Modern Streetcar on this same route, breaking ground in October 2011, came out of this ding-a-ling project. We are told frequently that were it not for the trolley, the streetcar would never have gotten public support.
Our family continues to expand. In the mid-1980’s Pat and I brought Julius Holt into our home at the beginning of his football career at the U of A. Julius, number 50 on his uniform, did well on the field and eventually in the classroom. Julius and his family are an integral part of our family to this day. Daughters Stephanie and Pamela are happily married with children and careers. Our youngest daughter Katie is expecting twin boys in late September which will give us 10 grandchildren. Her older brother John is a Navy Chief who served eleven years in Submarines and is now attached to the Naval Special Forces (Seals) Command at Coronado after a year’s tour of duty with the 5th Fleet headquarters in Bahrain. The most recent to marry, John’s wife is a Master Sergeant in the Airforce.
To round out our lives, I retired from the Bell System in 1987, from the Navy in 1993, from the City of Tucson Department of Transportation in 2000, we shut down our own consulting engineering firm in 2005 and I retired from active management of the trolley in 2010. Pat retired from the State of Arizona in 2001 after a 34 year career in employee training and development. I am still active with the Rotary Club of Tucson, working on the trolley, as well as working out seven days a week and generally enjoying life with the family. We attend all the home football games plus some away games as well as all home basketball games and many away games. The connection with the U of A College of Engineering is as strong as ever as we belong to the Da Vinci Circle at the college.