1964- 1969

My time at University of Wisconsin was a varied experience. I lived in a different place each of the four and one-half years that I spent there. An Engineering degree took 135 credits instead of the usual 120 credits for a regular degree. Each year was a different experience. Again, I was not unhappy, nor do I remember it being the best time in my life. I was still a very shy person.

Freshman Year 1964 – 1965

I remember my mother being very nervous about her first born leaving home. Living away from home for the first time was a good experience. My roommate was a friend from my high school named Bill Lipschultz. We had not spent a lot of time together prior to then, but we ending up being very good friends. I was not an easy roommate, since I was a slob that left dirty clothes and even a half opened suitcase on the floor for days at a time.

Madison is a beautiful city. The state capitol is on a hill overlooking four lakes. The University of Wisconsin occupies many miles along one of those lakse. Our dormitory, Conover Hall, was an one of the older buildings right on the shore of Lake Mendota. Growing up on water had spoiled me and made me unappreciative of the beauty of that campus.

We had a nice variety of students in that dorm. A little over half were from various towns in Wisconsin and rest rest from out of state. We had a recruited basketball player from Florida living there. He thought us Wisconsinites were very naive to the ways of the world. He was absolutely right.

Thumb wars were big and I was one of the better ones considering I was smaller than most. I often beat guys that thought I should have been easy mark. Gene Pitney and Roy Orbison were usually playing in somebody’s room. One guy liked a French singer named Francoise Hardy. I ended up liking her myself and spent years after college looking for her music.

Many dorms in that area, including female dorms, were connected by an underground dining facility that served all of us three meals a day. Visiting female dorms was strictly forbidden. I remember seeing a girl from one of those dorms during meals that I was strongly attracted to. I made the mistake of telling the guys. They decided that I needed their help since I was still so shy. I was mortified one night when they called her at her dorm to tell her about me. I was so embarrassed that I refused to talk to her, ruining any chance of us ever being able to meet. My loss.

Beer drinking was legal then for anybody over eighteen, so Friday nights were spent drinking way too much on Fridays and Saturdays. It was about a twenty minute walk to State Street, the center of social life at the university. I believe that was the first time I ever got drunk enough to be sick was back then.

Sophomore Year 1965 – 1966

At the end of my freshman year, we were informed that our dorm, Conover Hall, was go to be transitioned the next school year into a female dormitory. Many of the friends that I shared the third floor with were interested in staying together. The school offered us the choice of picking a floor in a brand new dormitory called Ogg Hall near the university library, much closer to the center of campus. We picked the top floor of the building on the left side of the picture to the right.

Life at Ogg Hall was much different than my freshman year. Instead of being in a woodsy area on campus like the previous year, it was in a much more urban type setting. We also had many students more out of state students, especially from New York.

I made a good friend from the Lake Geneva area of southern Wisconsin, He was a very outgoing, boisterous type that always seemed to be the center of attention. He was very active on the dating scene. I never understood why he seemed to like me, as I was exactly the opposite.

Playing bridge was big in the central lounge area on that floor. My grades suffered because of the amount of time I spend playing, but I did develop a life long interested in the game. I was not until about 2008 that my wife and I found friends interest in playing. Both wives needed to be taught from scratch. The games now are far less competitive than they were during my college days. With TV and social media, not many even play the game anymore.

It was during this year that I decided Medical School was not going to be for me, so I changed my major to Engineering Mechanics, (see story).

Other than that, very little changed in my life. I was still hardly dating at all, my social life was still Friday and Saturday nights on State Street, and had no girl friend at the time.

I remember Sunday nights going to a bar there called the Brat House to have two steak sandwiches and a coke for $1.25. My dad gave me a monthly allowance of $50, which was more than adequate.

At the beginning of that school year, I had access to a small family plane that I brought to campus for the first half of the Green Bay Packer season to commute back and forth to Green Bay. Those were the Lombardi years just prior to the famous Ice Bowl. (see story)

Junior Year 1966 – 1967

My junior year was uneventful. My new friend from the previous year at Ogg Hall convinced me to share a one bedroom apartment that year about four miles from campus. We got a tiny color TV. Our favorite show was Batman with Adam West.

The difference in our personalities was evident that year. His social life evolved around fraternity friends and wild one night stand dates. He often brought his conquests around on weekends, making me very uncomfortable.

Mine evolved around old friends from my previous dorm years. I spent less time at State Street bars and more time at friend’s apartments on campus. Going to University of Wisconsin sporting events all year long occupied most of my weekends.

I had worked the previous summer in hopes of earning enough to buy a small motorcycle. When I had enough and asked my dad’s help in buying one, he surprised my by getting me a very small, inexpensive car. It was vastly under-powered and stalled every time I drove it on rainy, wet roads.

My dad had seen the results of too many motorcycle accidents as a radiologist. My roommate often needed a car for his dates, so I frequently ended up using his small motorcycle. Obviously, I never told my dad. Somehow I escaped unhurt.

In summary, my Junior year was not wonderful, as I remember many nights alone with nothing to do. My grades did pick up as I was now taking Engineering course that I liked.

Senior Year 1967 -1968

My senior year was a year of big change.

Most of my friends from the previous years were no longer even attending school for various reasons. I had had enough of roommates. I found a new high-rise studio apartment complex for students near campus, where I rented a very small room with a private bathroom.

The previous summer I had dated the daughter of my parent’s friends frequently that had visited our cottage on the bay. She was a very outspoken girl. I experienced levels of intimacy with her that I had never experienced before with a girl. I have no idea why she was attracted to me because I was still painfully shy.

When the school year began, she decided to move to Madison. She did not attend college, but she found a job very close to the state capitol building. She worked as a dental technician with a dentist that was willing to train her since she had no credentials. She ended up being able to make very nice dentures with absolutely no previous training. I remember her many struggles adapting to that new career.

Even though my studio was extremely small she moved in with me. It was very close quarters for two very immature kids. I remember some unhappy moments as we adjusted to living together. By the end of that year, we had decided to marry. I do not remember how we decided that, but we did. Back then, if you lived with someone, it was just expected.

We married the following summer.

Last Semester Fall semester 1968

Engineering school required fifteen more credits than a normal Bachelor of Science degree, so I needed one more semester to finish my degree. We rented a one bedroom apartment at the same complex that I had lived in my junior year. My wife continued to work for the dentist.

I do not remember much about our social life. I do remember we made friends with a mortician and his wife. He took me on a call one evening where I helped him pick up a professor that had just died. It was the first time that I saw a dead body. I got a hands on lesson in the life of a mortician. Funny the things you remember and the things you forget.

My grades improved greatly and I did graduate the following January.