Alumni
2010 Award Recipients
Distinguished Alumni
Earl E. Walker (Welding 1940)
Born in St. Louis, Missouri on February 12, 1920, Earl has been a lifelong resident of the St. Louis area. After graduating Kirkwood High School in 1939, Earl attended Ranken Technical School in St. Louis where he learned welding, graduating in 1940.
In 1952 Earl formed his own company, known today as Carr Lane Manufacturing Company, located in Shrewsbury, Missouri. Carr Lane and its subsidiaries provide clamps, pins, chuck jaws, fixture devices and component parts for the metalworking field. Over the years, Carr Lane has had manufacturing branches in Los Angeles, Boston, Austin and Brazil. Carr Lane employs several Ranken graduates. Through long hours, tireless work, successful management and excellent employee relations, Earl has built a large, successful multi-million dollar operation from the ground up.
Earl Walker has also touched the lives of countless people through his professional and civic endeavors, especially as a driving force behind The Walker Scottish Rite Clinic for Childhood Language Disorders of St. Louis, Inc. Earl joined the Board of Trustees of Ranken Technical College in 1997. In 2006, he and his wife Myrtle donated funds enabling the purchase and renovations of an abandoned warehouse. This building was transformed into the Myrtle and Earl Walker Student Residence Hall that opened in 2009 with a maximum occupancy of 210 students. Mr. Walker has also shown life-long generosity to his community of Kirkwood. Many continue to benefit from the continued success and generosity of Mr. and Mrs. Earl Walker.
Distinguished Young Alumni
Andrew R. Raines (Industrial Electricity/Electronics 1994)
Born October 22, 1964 and growing up in Alton, IL, Andy attended Alton Senior High School and entered Ranken in 1992. Andy says he needed Ranken when he was younger. Ranken gave him the structure, work skills and tools that have shaped his life. Andy knew right after graduation that he wanted to join the faculty at Ranken. He had a day job as a technician and started teaching night school in 1994. He became a full time instructor in 1998 and continues to teach there today. As an instructor, Andy is dedicated to giving students entering the Electrical trade what he has learned and what has shaped his life. He has helped many students stay on the right track through academic and personal challenges.
Andy has recently started a new path of ministry as the Passion Painter. He started painting in 2008 and he had never painted before. He considers himself an Evangelist with a nontraditional method of reaching out spiritually to others. He performs his work to religious music and never knows what he will paint until he is moved by the music. He has traveled to Florida, Oklahoma, Texas, and Illinois to perform for churches and religious groups. He does not paint the “traditional brown hair and blue eyed” Christ that we often see. Andy has always had a strong spiritual side, he has been a children’s pastor since 1990 at three different churches but more recently his painting has become his focus reaching many more than just children each time. He has also worked at the Illinois kid’s camp for the last 17 years, and has been a speaker at several youth events in the St. Louis area. Andy continues to support Ranken financially through the annual Employee Campaign.