Alumni
Frank Bokan
- Allen Miller
- Angela Bailey
- Armin Mehrtens
- Bender McKinney, Jr.
- Bill Luetkenhaus
- Bill Waeltz
- Brent Deady
- Chad Wunsch
- Chris Lugge
- Dan Shymanski
- Darrell Williams
- Darren M. White
- David Byington
- David Chasnoff
- David E. Kite
- Dean Alinder
- Dennis Daugherty
- Dennis Newman
- Don Huster
- Dr. Martin J. Sommer
- Earl Walker
- Edward Boenker
- Eric Nelson
- Frank Bokan
- Frank Finley
- Fred Mertz
- Geoff Dugopolski
- George Schofield
- Gerald Kohnen
- Glen Wildermuth
- Herbert Williams
- Ian Lackey
- James "Jim" Kyle
- James (Jim) Hesse
- James Payne
- Jason Prichard
- Jerry Halley
- Joe Davis
- John Kohnen
- Kent Markus
- Kevin Haller
- Kirk Skaggs
- Larry Kelso
- Lee Patrick Janey
- Lynn Glatt
- Matt Kuemmel
- Michael Aaron Davenport
- Michael Spratt
- Mike Hecht
- Patrick Earl Taylor
- Peter Lewis
- Richard Podorski
- Rick Rajnoha
- Robert (Bob) Finley
- Robert A. Gau
- Robert Dunavan
- Robert Fish
- Robert Kramer, Sr.
- Robert Ruth
- Robert Smith
- Rolf Mitchel
- Ronald Johnson
- Ronald Ray
- Ronald Walls
- Russ Milkoski
- Scott Krone
- Stephen Devine
- Steven Bohnenkamp
- Thomas Huelsing
- Tom Gieseking
- Tom Wood
- Walter Hellebusch
- Walter Koessel
- Walter Pumfrey
- Walter Wildermuth
- Wilbur Jackson
- William Fennewald
- William Orrill
- William Rueckert
- William Wagner
- Winston Darrell Johnston, II
Machining, 1929
“Attending Ranken gave me focus and a career in tool & die work that lasted until I turned 65. Without Ranken I may well have been a high school drop out with an entirely different life.”
Frank Bokan is not just an outstanding Ranken graduate; he is an outstanding man. At the age of 95 he is still going strong. He worked for Motorola as a tool & die maker in the Chicago area for 30 years until he retired in 1977. He loved working and did not take retirement easily. He found work at various little tool & die factories for several years and also went back to work at Motorola through their retiree program doing various jobs including security guard and office work.
The most outstanding thing about Frank is that he can do anything! We recently had a garage sale at which we sold the majority of his tools. One man was looking through the dozens of items spread out on a table and commented that he was trying to figure out what Frank did for a living. Based on the variety of tools, he could have been anything, and he was. He could do electrical work, plumbing, construction, auto repair, TV repair, and more. In his neighborhood, and within his circle of friends, Frank was the one everyone called when they needed something fixed. If you needed to borrow a tool, Frank had it. And if you weren’t sure how to fix something, Frank would be right over.
Several years ago a weekend trip to St. Louis included a tour of the neighborhood he grew up in, a visit to the cemetery, and a drive past Ranken. There was no school that day, but he talked to a couple of students sitting on the steps. When they found out Frank was an alumni they took him inside and introduced him to a teacher who was kind enough to take him on a tour of the machine shop where Frank learned his trade. It was truly the highlight of his trip! Ranken was a trade school back in the ‘20s when Frank attended; a substitute for high school, but he gets quite a kick out of the fact that he can now say he graduated from Ranken Technical College.
