Lloyd Franzen and David Douglas High
Lloyd Franzen was born in Chehalis, Washington and eventually moved with his family to Portland where he attended city schools. He married Corriene La Follette on December 20th, 1916 in Portland. A short time after marriage, they moved to acreage located at NE 107th and Glisan Street. He developed this land into a peach orchard which later became a local landmark. As population pressures increased, Lloyd saw the opportunity to develop this area into a residential subdivision. It is known today, as it was then, as Lorene Park, a derivative from Lloyd and Corriene.
Mr Franzen also had another dream, a much bigger, more important dream. He envisioned a high school district encompassing the Gilbert, Powellhurst and Russellville elementary school districts. At that time, each elementary district sent their students to the high school of their choice. The tuition was picked up by each elementary district and financially, the cost was extreme.
Lloyd and other high school district activists, searched for a suitable site for a high school. Mr Franzen purchased land with his own funds in order to protect it from other development. When the high school district was formed, the land was sold back to the unified highschool district without a penny profit to Mr. Franzen. He also protected the land for development of Ventura Park school where it stands today.
After a great deal of time and effort, the unified high school district was formed. Next came the naming of this new school. With some research and being influenced by the number of tall stately Douglas Firs on the property, the name David Douglas was selected.
Mr David Douglas, who had identified and named the fir after himself, was a Scotsman. It was naturally followed that the students be called the “Scots” or “Scotsman”. Both names were accepted.
Mr Franzen spent many years serving the residents of Multnomah County. He served on the Russellville School board from 1939 to 1953, the David Douglas board from 1953 to 1957 and the rural school board from 1958 to 61. His greatest joy was in doing and knowing that he had done something in the lives of the young people in the David Douglas School District. He was a man who truly gave of himself without a thought of compensation.
Notable alumni of David Douglas High School
Sam Elliott – actor
Tonya Harding – professional ice skater (dropped out)
Members of the band The Kingsmen
Jeff Merkley – United States Senator
Owamagbe Odighizuwa – NFL player with the Giants. 3rd Round Pick in the 2015 NFL draft
Kim M. Peyton-McDonald – Olympic Gold Medal swimmer, 1976 Summer Olympics
Pete Pierson – football player
Lindsay Wagner – actress
Claxton Welch – Super Bowl winner with Dallas Cowboys
Lorene Park 