Dear Quaker friends,
We invite you to write about your experiences at Franklin, particularly how they shaped you and informed your life. Send to quakertimes@franklinalumni.net. We welcome your feedback, suggestions and ideas.
Mary Duryee, ‘67, Editor
“They say we die twice. Once when they bury us in the grave and the second time is the last time someone mentions our name.” This quote, adapted from a Macklemore song, resonates with me as we prepare to induct the newest members of the Hall of Fame this May. While the 2024 group is thankfully all still with us in body and spirit, this time of year always makes me think of all of those who have left us since that first induction in 1992. When we stop voicing our collective and shared histories, we risk losing a part of our story. In this way, the last six months have been wonderful when it comes to honoring the life and work of Cheryl Chow, class of 1964.
Read MoreOur first encounter with Willie McIntrye was during our first career and scholarship fair, Rising Tide, in February 2022. A shy young man with his head bowed approached our table. He was wearing overalls and covered with paint. Asked about the paint, he explained he was “free-handing” a mural in the Kingmakers room. Intrigued, we traveled upstairs and were rewarded with our first view of Willie’s incredible art. We all wanted to get to know this quiet, talented young man better. Not long after, Willie and his story and art would be shared with FAAF board and committee members.
Read MoreRod is probably best remembered by his FHS ’67 classmates for his sense of humor and shooting the basketball. Following his fragmented time at UW, finally getting degrees in English (Writing) and Sociology, he settled in near North Seattle. He spent many years coaching kids, starting with his own, and adults in basketball and baseball. In fact, he has been an assistant coach/video coordinator/advance scout with Franklin boys’ basketball for more than ten years. Some of us had him pegged as an athlete. It came as some surprise then, when Rod produced his latest paintings at our 2018 class reunion picnic. They were bold experiments in color, labeled with curious names like Sunrise on Enceladus or Then There Was a Moth.
Read MoreAgnes Leapai, the Student and Family Advocate for Franklin High School, greets everyone with an enormous smile and a welcoming demeanor. Her program does its best to assist with food, clothing, occasional utility assistance, and those situations that call for an emergency motel stay. Food and housing insecurity is very real among the students at Franklin. The poverty rate for the school is higher than the Seattle School District average, and hovers in the low-to-mid-60 percent of the student body of 1,241. In the first month of school alone, more than thirty families had sought assistance. During the 2022-2023 school year, approximately 250 families were helped.
Read MoreRon Chew, a Franklin graduate and honoree in our Hall of Fame, published an extensive autobiography in 2020. This book speaks to his roots in Seattle’s Beacon Hill neighborhood as well as to his lifelong connection to the Chinatown-International District. Chew covers key moments in his life as a journalist during the early years of the Asian American movement, as editor of the International Examiner, and executive director of The Wing, as he helped create our community-based exhibition model to spotlight community stories. Includes 56 pages of color photos.
With his blessing we are pleased to reprint a portion of it here.
Read MoreThe Franklin Alumni Association & Foundation is pleased to announce the 2024 Hall of Fame inductees. The Franklin Hall of Fame was established in 1992. Additional inductions took place in 1998, 2001, 2004. Since 2013 they have taken place at the spring annual meeting and Hall of Fame Celebration. More information on the Hall of Fame here.
Read MoreWe have huge ambitions for the future of our scholarship funds and school support funds, and we need your help. Some of these big ambitions include increasing our endowment so that every graduating student who applies for a scholarship receives one. Supporting the athletics department by purchasing uniforms more frequently than every three years. Adding a family resource center with a food pantry for families in need of an extra lift. Supporting the school community by paying for an additional full-time teacher each year. We need your support to make that possible.
Read MoreI began my teaching career twenty years ago at Highline High School where I taught English and Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) for eleven years. After graduating from the UW's Danforth Educational Leadership Program, I served as assistant principal at Juanita High School in the Lake Washington School District for four years. In 2018, I came to SPS where I served as an assistant principal at Chief Sealth International High School until this year.
Read MoreYour Alumni Association sponsored a new event—an opportunity for Franklin alumni to visit our Alma Mater—featuring a tour of the school, local food trucks from El Gran Taco and Catfish Corner, and DJ Kun Luv providing the music. The tour was an important part of the day, including the renovated Rick Nagel Mock Trial room on the third floor.
Read MoreAs Franklin High School students, we were fortunate to experience the multicultural wonderland that filled the school's classrooms. The diversity was not only unique within the school but also mirrored the vibrant tapestry of Rainier Valley itself. Let's take a ride on the way-back machine and travel through time to explore the valley's demographic progression.
Read MoreDodging traffic, watching for pedestrians and bikers, and stopping at too many stoplights while admiring the Mt. Rainier view, can make a trip down Rainier Avenue perilous and not leave us time to think about the geology of the area. What formed the valley over the millennia?
Read MoreIn our last issue, we invited alumni to share experiences, in any form or length, addressing the questions: what was your experience of Franklin’s diversity? Did it matter to you? If so, how? If not, why? How has your education at Franklin informed you, your decisions, your choices since leaving high school?
Read MoreThe Scholarship Committee continues to expand the recognition of a variety of nontraditional “ships”: resiliency-ships, recognize our students who in spite of their many, many challenges are moving forward; thank-god-I-made-it-ships, for those students often overwhelmed by life who exhibit trust that their tomorrow will be better; affirmation-ships, acknowledging students who are doing everything right and who just need a win; and, of course, our legacy scholarships, honoring academic excellence that flourishes at Franklin.
Read MoreDon Tewkesbury, born April 28, 1932, in Seattle, was a multi-award-winning Washington state newsman. His thirty-six-year career included covering such memorable local events as the 1963 Columbus Day storm and the Beatles’ visit during the Seattle World’s Fair. He was alone manning the Seattle Post-Intelligencer city desk early Sunday, May 18, 1980, when Mount St. Helens erupted. He also interviewed legendary personalities such as astronaut Neil Armstrong, movie star Ginger Rogers, broadcaster Edward R. Murrow, and jockey Gary Stevens.
Read MoreIt is with profound sadness that I am notifying the Quaker Times of the loss of a sister and a special Franklin alum with the passing of Margaret (Midge) (Duncan) Patten, class of 1960. Midge passed away last April, after battling cancer for well over a year, and inspired many friends as well as her extended family, with how to be graceful under difficult circumstances.
Read MoreAs a third grader, Herman Houston’s (’67) teacher called his artwork “doodling” but he decided it wasn't doodling if it was his work, he was going to love it and call it art. “I didn’t care what anybody else thought about my work. I didn’t know it at the time, but that attitude has allowed me to relax and enjoy my work without the anxiety of a critical voice. Of course, I have my personal standard, but once I reach that bar I am always pleased with what I’ve painted. When I paint, I only need my own voice to give me validation”.
Read MoreOn an unusually warm May evening, 135 Quakers and supporters gathered in community to celebrate Quaker excellence, both past and present. At this Franklin Hall of Fame event, a theme ran through speeches from the podium and conversations after the celebration – we all have a deep pride in our alma mater and in the community-shifting changes our fellow alums have effected.
Read MoreWhen he was ten, in 1942, Herb and his family, along with 120,000 other Americans of Japanese ancestry, were forcibly removed from their homes and the Tsuchiya family was sent to the Minidoka War Relocation prison camp in Hunt, Idaho, where they stayed until their release in 1945.
Read MoreI am happy to announce that our third annual Rising Tide Scholarship & Vocational Fair will be from Tuesday, October 23rd through Thursday, October 26th.
Read More
