Distinguished Alumni

(2008) Harold Vanselow

As a high school senior, Harold served as manager of both the track and football teams, the beginning of a life in service. Appropriately, the cover of the 1940 King’s Crown yearbook depicts a design created by James Rossow ’40 with the word SERVICE in it.

After graduation in January 1940, Harold volunteered for the U.S. Navy’s V-5 program as an aviation cadet. On August 22, 1944 he was commissioned an ensign and received his Navy Wings of Gold as a naval aviator. He served as a pilot on a patrol bomber aircraft, protecting convoys and searching for German submarines in the North Atlantic.

Following his discharge from the Navy, he held a number of jobs in sales, purchasing, accounting, and office management as well as serving as an instructor in the evening divisions of MATC, WCTI, and NWTC. He served as the City Treasurer for the City of Wauwatosa for 21 years, retiring in 1985 at the age of 63.

Harold married Rufus King classmate Mavis Van Acker in May, 1946. They have one child, two grandchildren, and one great grandchild. In 1987 Harold and Mavis moved to Lakewood, Wisconsin (population 785) on Bear Lake in Oconto County. Harold and Mavis are very involved in community affairs. He has been instrumental in building of the Lakewood Library, Nicolet Clinic, Lakewood Presbyterian Church and the Munger Lake Dam. Oconto County and the McCaslin Lions Club honored him for his service to the community.

Harold was one of the 1,225 students first to enter Rufus King on September 4, 1934. He and Mavis have worked on all the reunions of the class of 1940. Their 68th reunion will be held on September 19, 2008. His latest endeavor is the planning of a reunion of those who were among those first 1,225 students to enter King.

A blood donor since 1954, he has donated 143 pints of blood. He believes that as a good citizen he should serve God, his country, his family, and his neighbors.

(2008) Gene Gilbert

Within a month of graduating from Rufus King in 1944, Gene was serving in the U.S. Army Air Corps. As an aviation cadet. A short time after being discharged from the Army, Gene entered the University of Wisconsin on the G. I. Bill and graduated in 1949 with a degree in business administration. His first job was with local investment firm, The Marshall Co., as a stockbroker. In 1962 he joined the New York Stock Exchange firm of Bache and Co., which became Prudential Investment Co. in 1980, where he was a senior vice-president. During his years in the securities business he was the investment consultant to many of the large union pension funds in the country including the City of Milwaukee and Milwaukee County. During that time he also created a no-load mutual fund for members of the AFL/CIO unions.

Gene also served on the boards or investment committees as a volunteer for many local organizations, including: Milwaukee Public Museum, Milwaukee Turners, Children's Outing Association and the Milwaukee Jewish Federation. In 1992 he volunteered to work as an investment consultant for the International Executive Service Corporation. During the next seven years, he was sent to six countries: Pakistan, Poland, Slovakia, India, Bulgaria, and Zimbabwe, to create or develop local mutual funds. Living and working in these less-developed countries was one of the highlights and the most rewarding experience of his life.

Gene and his wife of 58 years, Inez, are extensive travelers, having visited 121 countries during their married life. They have three children and six grandchildren.

(2008) Edmund Mackett

Edmund Mackett began his Air Force career immediately after high school graduation in 1947. He was commissioned as an officer in 1953 after being selected from the top of his class to become a fighter pilot, then flight commander and instructor pilot – all while earning a bachelor’s degree in military science and engineering.

In 1965, Ed was called to serve as an F-I05 pilot in Southeast Asia. He flew 113 combat missions in North Vietnam and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, five Air Medals, the Meritorious Service Medal, the Distinguished and Presidential Unit Citations, and a Combat Readiness Medal. Almost half of the pilots with whom Ed served were killed in action.

Following the war, Ed commanded the USAF’s Tactical Alert Facility in Taiwan, overseeing all operations at this critical nuclear-armed airbase. He is one of only a handful of American pilots ever awarded Command Pilot Wings by the Air Force of Nationalist China in appreciation for his service in Taiwan.

After serving as Chief of Flight Operations within the Office of the Inspector General at the USAF Tactical Air Command Headquarters, Ed retired in 1972 and traded in his Air Force wings for those of a corporate jet captain. His career continued as an instructor pilot in Amman, Jordan, training new civilian pilots for the Royal Jordanian Airline. There, Ed traveled across the Middle East, flying world leaders and dignitaries – sometimes sharing his cockpit with Jordan’s late King Hussein (himself a pilot), who came to call Ed a personal friend.

Ed went on to serve as international flight manager for DHL Worldwide Express, where he earned captain’s ratings in every aircraft the company flew and was selected as DHL’s Outstanding Employee in 1986 with the DHL Torchbearer Award.

Ed kept in touch with his homeroom teacher for 50 years until she passed on, and can show his children with vivid memory where his locker was. He attributes much of his success to the four years he spent at Rufus King High School, declaring them without hesitation to be the best four years of his life.

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