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

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

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.