Throughout my long career as a dentist, I have maintained close contact with friends and the School that I entered in 1958.
Today, it occurred to me that a new class will soon be entering University of Detroit Mercy School of Dentistry for the first time and I think back to one particular man I met in my freshman year, William Engleman.
He was a whirlwind of intellect and energy, accepting the mantel of leadership as our class president. At the request of our dean, he started the school’s first newspaper called The Dental Spectrum. When we hosted the ADA’s Quality and Inspection committee, he was in charge of the physical building – making sure that everything was clean and orderly, painted and presentable.
Achieving his DDS was only the first part of his professional journey. After he graduated from Detroit Mercy Dental, he went to Wayne State University Medical School where he graduated in 1966 and began his residency as an Ear Surgical Specialist. He set up his practice in Saginaw in 1971 and retired in 1998.
My friend, Dr. Bill Engelman, died in 2018. He never stopped serving and leading and I miss him.
Oh, by the way, I was obviously not the only one impressed by Bill those many years ago – he met and married the dean’s administrative assistant, Greta Faubert.
So I make this suggestion to the Detroit Mercy Dental Class of 2024: you will meet many memorable and outstanding people during these four years of dental education. These are people you will know and care about for the rest of your lives.
Good luck on your journey!
Arthur M. Hamparian, DDS ‘62