Hi Mike! “Say…are you related to Phyllis Jelich” (former Associate Dean-Home Economics Division-retired in 1990)? If I have been asked that question once in the last 32 years, it has been at least 200 times. Yes, she is my mother.

My retirement from MATC is official on May 19, 2024. There are a number of faculty at MATC who have more years of seniority than me, but I don’t think that there is any employee here who has been associated with “Vocational and Technical Education” in one form or another as long as I have. Case in point, my mother started as a sewing instructor at the former “Cudahy Vocational School” before it was rolled into MATC. In fact, she used to sew what I thought were these goofy little outfits for me and then walked me down the aisle of their seasonal “Fashion Shows” at this school…and of course, I cried the whole time. The trauma for me was palpable and entirely embarrassing. This was back in 1958 or 1959, when I was only three or four-years-old.

Sometime in the 1970’s, my mother then became an “Associate Dean” in the Home Economics Division at the Downtown MATC Campus. I followed up my association with MATC by enrolling in two summer school courses in the early 1970’s when I was still in high school. Years later, I became a part-time Physical Education Instructor in 1992 and a full-time instructor in 2000. My youngest son (Nick) went to MATC for one year after graduating from Marquette High School. He transferred to UW-Whitewater with all thirty-two (32) credits that he earned at MATC. his saved me a boatload of money! So, you see…MATC has touched three generations of my family.

Now is the appropriate time to create a new chapter in my life…to see what challenges lie ahead of me in retirement. Being an employee at MATC has been transformative! I have been able to purchase my own house, pay for both of my sons to graduate from Marquette High School, and then UW-La Crosse and UW-Whitewater respectively, and I was also able to meet all the other financial needs of my family. I will be forever grateful to have been given this opportunity. Additionally, what has made my tenure at MATC so valuable are the associations that I have had with our very diverse, unique and eminently capable student population. The number of students at MATC who are multilingual is amazing! It is not unusual to hear Spanish, French, German, Arabic and other languages spoken by our students. I just hope they have incorporated some of the wellness and fitness concepts from my courses into their lives.

I am also grateful to all of our faculty (you know who you are) who have taken the time to get me boned-up regarding online instruction. To the administrators who I have served over the years, I hope that my performance as an instructor has been worthy of your respect. Additionally, to our support staff (i.e. Security, Maintenance, Cafeteria, et al.), you have played a significant role in any success that I have had at MATC. Finally, to Local 212 it has been my privilege to be part of a union that really supports and provides for the needs of its members. Thank you so much!

I am looking forward to retirement and a very physically active and mentally stimulating lifestyle…one that I have been preparing for over the last 32 years. Thank you MATC! You are the force that drives Milwaukee!

My toast to MATC…”What lies behind us, and what lies before us, are tiny matters compared to what lies within us”! (Ralph Waldo Emerson)