Historic Hood River
Frankton Grade School
9-8-2025
Notes
I forgot to post a “back to school” image last week. These cheerful faces belong to Miss Merz’ class at the Frankton Grade School, 1928 or 1929. We have some of the names:
Front Row (L-R):Â Margaret Tazwell, Robert Krieger, ?, Martha Okamura, ?, ?
Middle Row:Â Katherine Perkins?, ?, Irene Kilgore, Jesse Jones Jr., ?, ?
Back Row:Â Miss Merz, Leonard Lovell, ?
L. E.
I wish we had all of the names.
Interesting that most of the girls have a bobbed hair cut. I wonder when that became the style?
Jeffrey Bryant
My database indicates that these students were born between 1919 and 1923.
BethH
Maybe a Merz relative will see this and be able to give more info also.
Nice stack of wood to heat the school!
L. E.
The name Robert Krieger sounded familiar to me so I decided to check him out.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/106082374/
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/106082374/robert-allyn-krieger
Kalley
I checked with some of my Merz relatives, my Mom and some cousins. This Miss Merz isn’t one of our relatives. There is another Merz family in Portland.
My Great Grandmother Elise Yungen Merz came to America from Switzerland when she was a youngster. Her parents settled in Helvetia and the house that they built still stands today as the tasting room of the Helvetia Winery. She met John Merz who also was from Switzerland and married. They had 12 children. Then moved to Deer Island and then to Kalama.
3 of their sons were the only Merz siblings to move to Parkdale. The others stayed around Kalama and Vancouver areas.