With a record 71 international students at Tabor during the 2025 fall semester, it might be hard to imagine a time when the world seemed more distant and isolated.
In September 1962, Agepogu James Phillips (g’66) arrived at Tabor College from India, one of only a few international students on campus. His adopted mother and auntie, Surya Kanthamma, had become good friends with Margaret Willems, a Mennonite Brethren (MB) missionary nurse in India. With significant assistance from J.B. Toews, whom James met in India, and Wes Prieb (fst, ff’50-97), James landed in New York and took a train to Wichita, Kan.
Everything seemed so new to him, starting with his first ham-and-cheese sandwich with mustard on the train ride. He recalls Vernon Wiebe (g’48, fs’52-88**) teaching American etiquette in Orientation and friends helping him navigate the cafeteria.
Standing in line for registration, there was much confusion about his first and last names. In India, he went by Agepogu James Phillips, with the family name Agepogu first. He adopted the name A. James Phillips on campus, but later decided to give his children Agepogu as their last name.
Despite the cultural differences, James found Tabor to be a warm and welcoming place. He lived in the home of P.V. Balzer, who had been a missionary in India. He recalls fondly people like David Karber (g’56), who helped him with his finances in the Business Office, Professor Walter Kleinsasser (ff’58-88), and students like Francisco “Pancho” Mosquera (fs’65) from Colombia and Dick Unruh (g’65), who drove him to California for summers to work at Yosemite. James recalls how Dick’s parents welcomed him and treated him with utmost kindness. He called them “mom and dad.”
James was a double major in biology and chemistry under Professor Solomon Loewen (ff’25-77**) and William Johnson, Ph.D. (ff’47-91**). After graduating from Tabor in 1966, he moved to Southern California, where he became a medical technologist and met his wife, Julita. She was one of the few female doctors in her facility. She convinced James to become a physician assistant so they could work together. They eventually retired to the island of Maui.
“God has blessed me so much,” James said. “I’m not talking about financially, although that is true, but I’m talking about how God allowed me to have a good Christian education where I learned to ask God for wisdom and listen to what He tells me.”
James credits the generosity of the Tabor and MB community for supporting him financially, academically, culturally, and in his spiritual formation. Jack Braun visited James in the 1980’s, inviting him to support Tabor financially. He established a scholarship in the name of his mother, Surya Kanthamme. In 2021, James and Julita received an estate gift from their neighbors, whom they had cared for and who became like a mother to them over the years. They chose to turn this gift into a scholarship to support Tabor students with financial need, as James had been supported so many years ago. At $500,000, the Mama Hatsune and Captain Paul Travis Scholarship is currently the second largest endowed scholarship held at Tabor. In 2025, James established his third endowed scholarship in the name of his brother, niece, and nephew, the Suleman Agepogu, Murtaza Ali and Naaz Fatima Scholarship. He finds great joy in giving back to Tabor and investing in the next generation.
NOTE: ** indicates non-continuous Tabor employments