President-elect Barack Obama has invited surviving members of the famed Tuskegee Airmen to the Inauguration in Washington, D.C. on January 20, 2009. The following is a story originally appearing in the Franklin High School Alumni Post about two Franklin High School graduates who were Tuskegee Airmen during World War II.
"Robert Deiz, FHS '37 and Carl Deiz, FHS '38, were both part of the famed Tuskegee Airmen, the first and only all black Air Force Fighter Group during World War II.
The brothers were commissioned as second lieutenants and completed flying training. It was found in a final eye examination test Carl had a depth perception problem and was kept off flying status. Robert was sent overseas where he flew 93 missions with the 99th Pursuit Squadron primarily in the Italian campaign. Besides bombing and strafing missions he is credited with the downing of two German fighters.
Following WWII Robert Deiz remained in the Air Force as a test pilot stationed in Columbus, Ohio. Upon retirement from the USAF he worked for North American Aviation Corp. and also as a parole officer. Robert passed away in 1992 leaving his wife, Ruby and son, Robert.
In 2004 Robert Diaz was inducted into the Oregon Flying Hall of Fame in a ceremony at the Evergreen Aviation Museum in McMinnville, Oregon. His wife Ruby, and son, Robert were in attendance.
Carl Deiz returned to Portland following his service in the USAF. Upon re-entering the University of Portland he majored in business. After receiving his bachelor's degre, Carl was employed by the Department of the Interior where he worked for the Bonneville Power Administration as a small business specialist until his retirement in 1987.
Mr. Deiz married Mercedes Deiz in 1949. There are three children from this marriage: Karen, Gilbert and Bill. Many will remember Mercedes Deiz, a long serving Circuit Court Judge in Multnomah County. Mercedes is deceased.
Following retirement Carl indicated he had his hands full shepherding seven grandchildren to school and school related-activities while their parents worked. Six of the grandchildren are currently in college.
Mr. Deiz is a parishioner at St. Phillips Episcopal Church. Among the congregation are two former Franklin High School principals; Opal Chancellor Moore and Nathan Jones.
Carl Deiz and Robert Deiz are a part of "The Greatest Generation"."
Monday, December 22, 2008
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Just Desserts Fundraiser
Save the date! The "Just Desserts" fundraiser is scheduled for Saturday, April 18, 2009 at the Bossanova Ballroom on 7th and E. Burnside.
"Just Desserts" is an evening of art, sweets and more to benefit Franklin High School.
Organizers are looking for event sponsors, art donations, and volunteers. Watch the Spring 2009 Alumni Post for more details. If you are interested in becoming a sponsor, donating your art work or working as a volunteer at the event, please contact Tammy Carpenter by phone (503)232-5152 or e-mail at tcarp@hevanet.com
"Just Desserts" is an evening of art, sweets and more to benefit Franklin High School.
Organizers are looking for event sponsors, art donations, and volunteers. Watch the Spring 2009 Alumni Post for more details. If you are interested in becoming a sponsor, donating your art work or working as a volunteer at the event, please contact Tammy Carpenter by phone (503)232-5152 or e-mail at tcarp@hevanet.com
Alumni Cherry Trees Planted
The cherry trees donated by the Franklin High School Alumni Association have been planted. Special thanks to Charles Odenthal and the Men's Varsity Basketball team for putting them in. For those alums who live in the Portland area, we encourage you to come by the school to see the results of the hard work and dedication of the FLIP (Franklin Landscape Improvement Project) group. Our thanks to these wonderful folks for helping to restore the grounds of the school and making the Franklin campus, once again, the pride of Division street.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
FLIP Planting Party A Success
The Franklin Landscape Improvement Project (FLIP) got off to a great start on Saturday, October 18, 2008. 22 volunteers made up off students, staff, parents, friends of Franklin and community partners worked together putting in plants in the front of the school. The new landscaping will include trees, shrubs, grasses, vines and groundcovers. The following sponsors gave donations for the first phase of the work.
Portland Nursery
Marguerite Cohen, M.D.
The Villa Garden Club
The Morrison Erland Family
C & T Landscaping
Imago Dei Church
Mt. Scott Fuel
The next part of the project is the Alumni Memorial Cherry Grove sponsored by the Franklin High School Alumni Association and C & T Landscaping. If you are interested in donating to this project, or volunteering your time, please contact the Alumni Association at franklinalum@hotmail.com. Look for more about this project in the Spring 2009 edition of the Alumni Post.
Below are photos of the FLIP Planting Party. Special thanks to Lisa and Bud Morrison for sharing these pictures and for their dedication and hard work on this project.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Gordon Makinster
This Franklin memory is from Ken Aubin, Class of 1950
I met Gordon Makinster, Franklin Class of 1946, in the waning moments of the Alumni Picnic in 2007. I introduced myself because I was curious to know more about the man who bceame one of the most-respected basketball scorekeepers in the state of Oregon. Gordon and I agreed to meet and our conversation covered a myriad of stories about Southeast Portland, but through it all a picture of Gordon's climb to preeminence in Oregon sporting circles became the main theme.
Gordon's interest in scorekeeping began as a young boy. Playing games with his family, he found he could add and subtract the point scores more quickly than other players. The enjoyment he derived caused him to look for new opportunities in the world of game scoring. In grade school, Gordon followed the Portland Beaver baseball games on radio, listening to Rollie Truitt and Bob Blackburn announce the action. This was his first youthful attempt at scorekeeping the live action of an athletic event. Listening to these broadcasts, or sometimes attending games at the old Beaver ball park on NW 23rd and Vaughn, Gordon home schooled himself in the essentials necessary to be a good scorekeeper.
In his junior year at Franklin, Gordon took his seat at the scorer's table, becoming a fixture in the "old gym". He quickly learned that the upbeat tempo of high school basketball requried greater demands on the scorekeeper. Gordon strongly believed that concentration and accurecy were keys to success in maintaining the intergrity of the game.
After graduating from Franklin, Gordon landed a job with the Oregonian as a copy boy. While working nights for the paper, Gordon attended Lewis and Clark College. He worked regularly at scorekeeping, timing and public address there and at Portland State College. He also became a radio sportscaster for Far West Sports Newwork. After a hitch in the Air Force, Gordon returned to the Oregonian where he was reassigned full time to the Sports department. He returned to school at Lewis and Clark College, graduating with a bachelor's degree in journalism and sociology and a master's degree in education.
For the next 32 years, Gordon was a teacher at Wilson High School. While at Wilson, he also served as the track and field and cross country coach and the assistant athletic director. He also was a scorekeeper, time and public address announcer for the school. Gordon's skill and dedication was rewarded when he was selected by the OSAA to be an official scorer for the Oregon State 4A Boys Basketball Tournament, a position he held for 45 years. But the biggest compliment to his talents came when the newly franchised Portland Trail Blazers made him their official scorekeeper. Gordon worked for the Blazers for 25 years.
Gordon retired from teaching in 1990 and from the OSAA and the Portland Trail Blazers in 1995. He currently lives in Vancouver, Washington with his wife Beverly, a Franklin graduate from the class of 1947. Gordon and Beverly both belong to the Franklin High School Alumni Association and have enjoyed attending the annual Alumni Picnic at Oaks Park.
If you have any stories you wish to share about a special Franklin graduate, please post your comments to this blog or email the Franklin High School Alumni Association at franklinalum@hotmail.com
I met Gordon Makinster, Franklin Class of 1946, in the waning moments of the Alumni Picnic in 2007. I introduced myself because I was curious to know more about the man who bceame one of the most-respected basketball scorekeepers in the state of Oregon. Gordon and I agreed to meet and our conversation covered a myriad of stories about Southeast Portland, but through it all a picture of Gordon's climb to preeminence in Oregon sporting circles became the main theme.
Gordon's interest in scorekeeping began as a young boy. Playing games with his family, he found he could add and subtract the point scores more quickly than other players. The enjoyment he derived caused him to look for new opportunities in the world of game scoring. In grade school, Gordon followed the Portland Beaver baseball games on radio, listening to Rollie Truitt and Bob Blackburn announce the action. This was his first youthful attempt at scorekeeping the live action of an athletic event. Listening to these broadcasts, or sometimes attending games at the old Beaver ball park on NW 23rd and Vaughn, Gordon home schooled himself in the essentials necessary to be a good scorekeeper.
In his junior year at Franklin, Gordon took his seat at the scorer's table, becoming a fixture in the "old gym". He quickly learned that the upbeat tempo of high school basketball requried greater demands on the scorekeeper. Gordon strongly believed that concentration and accurecy were keys to success in maintaining the intergrity of the game.
After graduating from Franklin, Gordon landed a job with the Oregonian as a copy boy. While working nights for the paper, Gordon attended Lewis and Clark College. He worked regularly at scorekeeping, timing and public address there and at Portland State College. He also became a radio sportscaster for Far West Sports Newwork. After a hitch in the Air Force, Gordon returned to the Oregonian where he was reassigned full time to the Sports department. He returned to school at Lewis and Clark College, graduating with a bachelor's degree in journalism and sociology and a master's degree in education.
For the next 32 years, Gordon was a teacher at Wilson High School. While at Wilson, he also served as the track and field and cross country coach and the assistant athletic director. He also was a scorekeeper, time and public address announcer for the school. Gordon's skill and dedication was rewarded when he was selected by the OSAA to be an official scorer for the Oregon State 4A Boys Basketball Tournament, a position he held for 45 years. But the biggest compliment to his talents came when the newly franchised Portland Trail Blazers made him their official scorekeeper. Gordon worked for the Blazers for 25 years.
Gordon retired from teaching in 1990 and from the OSAA and the Portland Trail Blazers in 1995. He currently lives in Vancouver, Washington with his wife Beverly, a Franklin graduate from the class of 1947. Gordon and Beverly both belong to the Franklin High School Alumni Association and have enjoyed attending the annual Alumni Picnic at Oaks Park.
If you have any stories you wish to share about a special Franklin graduate, please post your comments to this blog or email the Franklin High School Alumni Association at franklinalum@hotmail.com
Saturday, October 11, 2008
FLIP Planting Party
Like plants, people, and playing in the dirt? The Franklin Landscape Improvement Project (FLIP) wants you on Saturday, October 18, 2008 from 9:00 a.m. to 12 Noon. Please come help us install the first round of shrubs, trees, vines, grasses and bulbs in the Woodward Street courtyard area. Bring your own gloves and shovel. If you have only an hour to give but have a truck, we also need help hauling the plants and bagged compsot from our house to the school at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday, October 18th. Please RSVP to Lisa and Bud at (503)239-5513 or e-mail us at lisabudjohn@mac.com so we can plan ahead.
Can't make it on the 18th but want to be involved in this fun and satisfying project? We'd love to hear from you. For more about the project and some great photos of the Spring 2008 work day, check out the Fall 2008 Alumni Post at
http://images.wolfpk.com/franklinhighalumni/pdf/2008fall_fhsaa.pdf
Can't make it on the 18th but want to be involved in this fun and satisfying project? We'd love to hear from you. For more about the project and some great photos of the Spring 2008 work day, check out the Fall 2008 Alumni Post at
http://images.wolfpk.com/franklinhighalumni/pdf/2008fall_fhsaa.pdf
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Franklin vs. Cleveland Golf Tournament is in the books
Quaker alums took to the links on Thursday, September 25 at Estmoreland Golf Course in a match with alums from Commerce-Cleveland High School. Although Franklin lost the match, everyone participating enjoyed the event. The match is getting more competitive every year and Quaker alums are looking forward to getting their names on the the winner's cup. Special thanks to the Commerce-Cleveland High School Alumni Association for the photos of the event. These can be viewed at http://chs-alum-cfcupgolf.blogspot.com/.
Dough 4 Dollars
Pizzicato Gourmet Pizza at 6042 SE Division is having a Dough 4 Dollars Night on Tuesday, October 14, 2008. Here's how it works: tell everyone you know to eat at the Division neighborhood Pizzicato on the October 14th. Pizzicato will donate 20% of all sales on that day to Franklin High School. So you'll enjoy a great meal and help Franklin at the same time.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Mystery Solved
The year was 1980. Jimmy Carter was president, Mt. St. Helens erupted and Rubik's cube was the newest fad. At Franklin High School that year the band banner went missing. The fate of the banner remained a mystery for twenty-eight years until September 2008. The banner was mailed to the school with an anonymous note explaining that it had been taken as part of a school prank in 1980. Wishing to clear his or her conscience, the former Quaker confessed the banner had been found in a long-forgotten storage box. The banner is now back home at Franklin and the Alumni Association says "Thanks" for its safe return. If there is any other Franklin memorabilia alums would like to donate to the Alumni Association, please let us know. We would love to hear from you.
Monday, September 29, 2008
2008 Alumni Picnic at Oaks Park
The Alumni picnic at Oaks Park in July 2008 was attended by 400 former Quakers. There were too many photos to include in the Fall edition of the Alumni Post, so the Alumni Association is putting them on our blog. We hope you enjoy looking at them.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Welcome to the New Franklin High School Alumni Association Blog
Welcome to the new blog for the Franklin High School Alumni Association. We hope that all alums and friends of Franklin will enjoy sharing memories of Franklin through this blog and find this site useful in keeping in touch with former classmates.
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