Remembering W. Wilford Kale Jr. ’66, P ’16

July 8, 2026
By President Emeritus W. Taylor Reveley III LL.D. ’18, HON ’18

It is important to celebrate legendary members of our Tribe.

Once in a blue moon, the most doggedly loyal, steadfastly supportive alumnus is someone who didn't actually graduate from the university. This was true of W. Wilford Kale Jr. ’66, P ’19. A vibrant member of the Class of 1966, Wilford was enrolled at William & Mary for four years but ultimately graduated from what is now named Park University in Missouri. Park U cherished Wilford. It put him on its board of trustees twice and gave him two distinguished awards.

But his heart always lay with William & Mary.

Wilford explored the nooks and crannies, the triumphs and tragedies, in the long life of the Alma Mater of the Nation. History loomed large among his passions. He majored in history, and he was still formally studying it much later when he earned a master's in history from England’s University of Leicester in 2012.

Wilford loved to do research, to delve deeply into the past, and then write about it. He produced the first complete list of W&M's rectors and corrected the numbering of W&M’s presidents. He identified the first alumnus to die in the French and Indian War, and established clearly how James Monroe, who became the nation's fifth president, took time out from service in the Revolutionary War to return to W&M and complete his undergraduate training in 1779.

Wilford researched and wrote enough books about William & Mary to be called its unofficial historian, notably:

“Hark Upon the Gale — An Illustrated History of the College of William & Mary”
“Traditions, Myths and Memories — Celebrating the Tercentenary of the College of William & Mary in Virginia”
“From Student to Warrior — A Military History of the College of William & Mary”
“Goal to Goal — 100 Seasons of Football at William & Mary”

Without doing too great injustice to the term “polymath,” it's fair to say Wilford Kale came close to being one. His areas of expertise, interests and commitments ranged far beyond the norm.

At one end of the continuum, he was a published historian. At the other end, he came as close to being Santa Claus as a mortal can get, with his white flowing hair and beard, eyes twinkling and mouth turned up in an enormous smile, and Clausian bodily proportions. Donning his Santa suit during the Christmas season, Wilford served for years as a superb public Santa, nurturing countless children with the warmth of his welcome and transparent interest in each child.

Juxtaposed to Wilford the jolly Santa was Wilford the journalist of the old-school, hard-bitten sort — relentlessly pursuing the facts, shedding light on important matters, with an eye to the public interest, sparing no miscreants, suffering no fools and, from time to time, covering stories of pure human interest and fun. He wrote clear, graceful prose. His career as a journalist had many stops. For more than 25 years, he was a force at the Richmond Times-Dispatch as a bureau chief and senior writer. Then he was a freelancer of the Virginia Gazette. For seven years, he wrote the “Kale on Books” column for local newspapers in Tidewater.

Public service was not an abstraction for Wilford. It mattered to him, so he put his body where his mouth was. He was a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army, winning a Bronze Star in Vietnam. He created the public affairs/public relations office at the Virginia Marine Resources Commission and was a senior staff advisor to the agency's management team. He served on the regional health services board for the Virginia Peninsula, on the Williamsburg-James City County Bicentennial Committee, on the James City County Planning Commission and James City County Board of Supervisors, and on the Williamsburg Regional Library Board of Trustees. He was a member of the Society of Professional Journalists for over 50 years, as well as one of its leaders. He helped found and raise money for a foundation that assists journalism students. He endowed an annual award given each spring to a top student journalist at William & Mary.

Wilford loved music and games of all sorts. He sang powerfully and beautifully. He loved to travel and learn about new places and cultures. A social creature of the first water, Wilford delighted in meeting people. When a tour bus with him on it ended its rounds, everyone onboard knew Wilford. He had fun!

Predictably, he had many nicknames, “Pete” being one among his family. But when it came to “Wilford” there were no shortcuts. On one occasion I incautiously sent an email to “Will,” and got an immediate reply: “Not Will or Wil,” always “Wilford!”

In a related vein, it was always a delight to spend time with Wilford and listen to his tales, while being nurtured by his kind words about my doings as W&M's president, except when he felt I strayed from the true path. Then he went for the jugular. Wilford emphatically felt that having the Homecoming Parade and the Charter Day ceremony early on Saturday mornings was enshrined in tradition and dear to alumni, while I felt if we wanted to attract students to both in the 21st century we needed to move them to Friday afternoons. Nor could I shake his rock-solid view that W&M chancellors could serve but one seven-year term, even when I insisted George Washington was chancellor for 11 years and left office only when the Grim Reaper intervened. And Wilford, who had been instrumental in the crafting and logistics to produce magnificent ceremonial medallions for the chancellor and rector, pushed me to readdress the injustice that there was no comparable neckwear for the president. “But Wilford,” I parried for years, “no one is standing in line to fund yet another grand William & Mary medallion, even to grace the presidential neck.” Finally, Wilford wore me down and, in a parting gift to future presidents, I paid for the thing, and Wilford saw to its creation in England.

Family mattered greatly to Wilford. He was hugely proud that one of his three children, Carter Kale ’19, went to William & Mary. Before his long, wonderful marriage to Kelly Kale P ’19, he was wed to another iconic W&M force, Louise Lambert Kale HON ’09. They remained good, mutually supportive friends after they split. Thus, Wilford was an abiding part of the Lambert legacy in Williamsburg, reaching back to formidable Dean J. Wilfred Lambert 1927, L.H.D. ’81, G ’97, G ’99, who ruled undergraduate men with an iron fist for decades, followed by his daughter Louise, an awesome force in the Muscarelle Museum of Art’s early years and then the guardian of the Historic Campus, and now Dean Lambert's grandson and Louise Lambert Kale's nephew, our own Matthew T. Lambert ’99, of preternatural University Advancement prowess.

Wilford Kale was a man of many awards and distinctions. He received William & Mary’s august Alumni Medallion in 1986 and belonged to the Sons of the American Revolution and the Royal Society of Saint George. The Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels brought him into its midst. The list could go on, but the picture is clear.

It is good to end this celebration of a great member of the Tribe, an extraordinary mortal, by observing that he was a man of deep faith and theological interest, devoted to Williamsburg Presbyterian Church. He sang in the choir for years and pulled his oar in the life of the congregation. It is now easy for me to visualize Wilford regaling a cloud of angels, fully into the glories of heaven. Enough!

Taylor Reveley served as William & Mary's 27th president from 2008 to 2018. Some biographical information included in this remembrance of Wilford Kale was pulled from the family obituary.