CLASS OF 1964 | 2026 | SPRING ISSUE

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Jon Wilbrecht wrote, “I’ve enjoyed doing part-time business consulting for the past 15 years, both independently and with the SBA. I plan to continue for the next three to five years, if possible.” Jon and his wife will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary this year.

David Skaggs reported he has joined the board of Keep Our Republic (KOR), a nonprofit working to maintain the integrity of the country’s elections and so our Republic. He says he has been active supporting KOR’s Article III Coalition, an organization of retired federal judges nominated by presidents of both parties, dedicated to judicial independence and the rule of law. David also wrote a letter to the editor published by The Washington Post in November, drawing on his days as a Marine Corps JAG officer to underscore the obligation of military service members to refuse to obey unlawful orders.

Roger Montgomery was pleased to read recent recollections of ’64 classmates and provided the following about his experience right after graduation:

“Yes, we all did answer the service call from JFK (‘Ask not what your country. . .’). I went off to Vietnam as an International Volunteer Services volunteer, as did Peter Hunting ’63. I stayed four years: 1964–1968. [IVS volunteer Peter Hunting was killed in 1965 by the Viet Cong, the first Wesleyan alumnus to die in Vietnam. See this 2008 Wesleyan magazine article about him https://magazine.blogs.wesleyan.edu/2008/01/20/a-death-in-vietnam/.]

“I saw Pete Hunting frequently at the IVS house/office in Saigon. He had just moved from central Vietnam to a Mekong Delta town” when he was killed. “He had arranged for me to be an English teacher in a town on the Cambodian border. When I went to take up the assignment, I had to go alone because Pete was not there to take me to meet local authorities. I later replaced Pete as regional team leader for the Mekong Delta during 1967–68. 

“During the Tet uprising in 1968, I was in Saigon. I had just accompanied the body of an IVS volunteer, David Gitelson, to Saigon from the Mekong Delta. He had been shot by North Vietnamese troops. On the first night of the uprising, a number of us naive volunteers went up to a roof top to see what was going on, and someone started shooting at us. Fortunately, the shooter could not aim very well, so I am alive today. I don’t know if the shooter was South or North Vietnamese. But I did learn how bullets aimed near you sound: like buzzing bees right over your head. 

“I avoided the draft by already being in Vietnam. When I got the notice to appear for an [army] medical exam, I asked for help buying the ticket to the army medical center in Kentucky. Or [I] suggested that they send out the medical form so that a doctor in the U.S. 25th Division in Cu Chi or a navy doctor in the navy hospital in Saigon could give me a checkup. Or a medic in the Special Forces Team at Long Xuyen (where I was stationed as a teacher) could take my vital signs.

“I never heard back from my draft board, so I did not have to join the army. I answered the call to serve by going to Vietnam as a civilian, doing what I could to help as a member of the NGO that was the forerunner of and model for the Peace Corps.”

Robert Maurer, a former chauffeur, we learn, has self-published a 237-page book about chauffeurs. It’s entitled I’m Circling: From England’s Coachmen to Manhattan’s Chauffeurs (1610–1997). Bob wrote that the book, which is available through Amazon, includes stories about how chauffeurs have been “servants to their clients in the most personal ways.” The stories “illustrate a probable ‘end of an era’ concerning their traditional, social role.” Bob added that this May, his wife, Zoelle, and he celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.

Great to get this update from Clark Lambert, or “WCL” as he refers to himself:

“Since leaving Yale to accept positions at Rutgers in 1976, my wife, Muriel (PhD Northwestern, followed by postdocs at Harvard and Yale), and I have climbed the academic ladder to become professors at Rutgers. WCL has since become emeritus at Rutgers, but Muriel is still going strong at 82 years old (remember, if you marry Supergirl, she is made out of steel!). All three of our kids are doctors, including Peter ’08, MA ’11, Phelps, and Anastasia; all three have children.

“Some years ago, WCL presented, along with ’64 classmates Steve Baker, MD, and Mark

Dahl, MD, a WESeminar entitled “Living the Impossible Dream” about our experiences setting up summer camps for kids with horrific skin diseases. Steve was awarded the Wesleyan Distinguished Alumnus Award [in 2004]. If you are interested in this award, a word of advice: Do not go to a college as supercompetitive as Wesleyan. WCL is very content just to be an alum.”