This information in this special message has been provided by our classmate Dagnija Lucs Anders.

"I knew Vilis and his family, because we were both Latvians. He was a nice, fun-loving guy. Vilis died in a car accident while still a student at NU. This tragedy for his family was compounded, when his sister died in a similar accident a few years later. They were the only children their parents had. I felt so bad for them."

Vilis's car went off the road and over a bridge near Wymore, Nebraska, coming home from Marysville, KS with friends back in February of 1963.