William Branson Lambert ’45

He entered Princeton from Oakwood High in Dayton, Ohio. At Princeton he played football and joined Cap and Gown. After the war, he earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering and returned to the family business in Dayton, founded by his grandfather.  

During World War II, Bill volunteered for the Navy submarine service and was stationed in Hawaii. His girl, Evelyn Knowlton, lived in St. Louis. When Bill had leave coming up, he wrote Evelyn telling her he was studying “ESP” (extra-sensory perception), then flew to St. Louis and persuaded a cooperative telephone operator at the airport to phone Evelyn and tell her Bill was calling from Honolulu. Bill phoned Evelyn and asked her to go to the corner of her road, concentrate on him, and call his name — he would respond through ESP.  

Bill took a taxi from the airport and hid in the bushes. It was 2 a.m., but Evelyn gamely put on her dressing gown and slippers and went down to the corner. She concentrated hard and quietly said, “Bill?”

He answered from his hiding place, “I love you, Evelyn.” And so they were married and lived happily ever after — for more than 60 years — and along the way became proud parents of two daughters and two sons.