Page 5 - The Alpha Gam - Delta Sigma Phi GT - Winter 2018-19

ΔΣΦΔΣΦΔΣΦΔΣΦΔΣΦΔΣΦΔΣΦΔΣΦΔΣΦΔΣΦΔΣΦΔΣΦΔΣΦΔΣΦΔΣΦΔΣΦΔΣΦΔΣΦ
Alumni News
ΔΣΦΔΣΦΔΣΦΔΣΦΔΣΦΔΣΦΔΣΦΔΣΦΔΣΦΔΣΦΔΣΦΔΣΦΔΣΦΔΣΦΔΣΦΔΣΦΔΣΦΔΣΦ

Alumni Spotlight: William N. Sandidge ’76 For this edition of the newsletter, we’re shining the spot-

light on Brother Bill Sandidge ’79, who originally hails
from Petersburg, Virginia. Bill graduated from Tech with
his BEE and has since been a longtime resident of Atlanta.
As an active chapter member, Bill served as internal VP,
president, and rush chairman. Today, he continues to give
back to the community as a founding member of Decatur
Makers, a makerspace in which members come to use
tools, materials, machines, and each other’s expertise
to make and create. Bill has always enjoyed tinkering,
repairing, and inventing. After nearly three decades
working in the water industry as a system integrator, a
semi-retired Sandidge continues to offer consulting ser-
vices to his former customers. He and his wife, Dr. Nancy
Koughan, have been married for 17
years and have a cat, Indy.
Bill (left) with his buddy Chris in the eShop at Decatur Makers.

What did you enjoy most as an active chap- played softball for forty years, many of those years with fel- Cancelleri ’77, had offered
ter member? low brothers, and would still be playing now if my league me guaranteed work for a
We were a very tight knit group with many diverse hadn’t folded. I may join the over-60s league next year – if period of time while I got
personalities. When I pledged, there were only about 14 I have the time. My wife and I often wonder how we had on my feet. That allowed
active brothers, and our pledge group alone was twice that time to do the things we did when we were working, since me to develop the contacts I
size. That fostered a bond and determination to succeed that we have no spare time anymore! needed to keep me going. I soon discovered that there was
is still with me today. Being a small, fourth-division frat After graduation, why did you pursue a a need for support of obsolete, legacy systems where the
didn’t hold us back; we were never afraid to take on the career in the water industry? original supplier couldn’t or wouldn’t support their equip-
“big boys.” If there was a way to win, we’d find it, and that As graduation approached and I was interviewing, I ment. I would come in and reverse engineer the system and
spirit culminated with us winning the All Sports Trophy in considered my options for the type of work, the size of the find a way to keep it running or upgrade it. I also created
1978. I was house manager my first year as a Delta Sig, and company, and where I would end up living. I liked living in and received royalties for several software packages used
it was then that I learned that the house was in need of some Atlanta (still do), and had many friends here (still do!), so in water plants around the country. My last project was to
severe work – and that was in 1976! Since then, I’ve been I decided that, if possible, I would stay here. The founder develop a lab instrument that uses ultrasound to measure
an advocate for major renovations. I hated to see the old of the company that I ultimately went to work for (also a the mechanical properties of paper and paper products.
place go—it had such a unique style—but the times called Tech EE) made the point that “everybody needs water, we As a founding member of Decatur Makers,
for something new. will always have work.” I would be stepping right into a which achievements are you most proud of?
How do you stay in touch with your fellow position of responsibility with very good benefits and The electronics shop, or “eShop,” at Decatur Makers
Alpha Gam brothers today? retirement, so I took the offer. I had twelve good years there was a goal from the start. We have been blessed with
There are a dozen or so brothers that, like myself, before starting out on my own. several very large donations of equipment and supplies
stayed in the Atlanta area after graduation. They have been What inspired you to go into business for that have allowed us to create a space where a maker can
a large part of my social life since then. There are several yourself? come in with an idea and walk out with a finished project.
other brothers that I have stayed in constant contact with I have always wanted to be in business for myself A particular goal is to give young makers with an interest
over the years. Ken Bargo ’78 comes down and stays with and, at the time I did, I had developed marketable skills in in electronics a place to learn. We are different from most
me for homecoming every year; Jeff Linton ’77 shares foot- software control and systems integration. A brother, Dave maker spaces in that we welcome children under 18, and
ball tickets with me, and flies in from Tulsa for the games. I Alumni Spotlight (continued on next page)

Celebrating with Buzz. Bill and Nancy at Tut’s tomb.
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