long time. It came with the family name, with living in a house where Adlai Stevenson or Eleanor Roosevelt may be a dinner guest.

For Jim and Jessica, it crystalized around the Peace Corps, a program created by Kennedy.

The two had begun dating in December 1963, when Jim invited Jessica to a gathering his parents were hosting for friends of their college-age kids at the Westside Businessman's Club.

At the end of their junior year, Jessica flew out to surprise Jim over spring break.

"We started talking," she said. "If we did intend to join the Peace Corps and be stationed together, we really would have to get married."

They decided to both transfer to UW-Madison for their senior year. They would get married. Then join the Peace Corps.

They figured the PeaceCorps part would make it clear they were not love-struck kids on some kind of a lark.

Telling Jim's parents wasn't bad. Ruth Doyle had a simple question - "How old are you?" - as a way of suggesting maybe they had not thought it through.

But they had.

At Jessica's house, it was different. Her father told Jim: "If you really loved my daughter, you'd stay at Stanford and get a Stanford degree and support her in an appropriate fashion."

But he wouldn't go back. They were 20 and the future, their future, was in Madison.

And then in Africa.

About Greg Borowski

Greg Borowski is the deputy managing for projects, investigations and digital innovation. He is also editor of PolitiFact Wisconsin.