Frank Zemaitis (Class of June 1940)

“I was in the June 1940 class, the first to graduate from Taft.  I was on the staff of the Taft Tribune writing a column called “Penstabs”.  I also wrote reports of sports events.  I was a member of the swim team and the baseball team.  If records were kept, they would show I had the first extra base hit and the first two RBIs.  (We lost to Lane 22 to 2 in the opening game).”

Shortly after graduation, Frank contacted Principal Leo Hoefer to obtain the school's permission to found the first Taft Alumni Association.  He was elected as its first president.  After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Frank joined the U.S. Navy, serving as many other Taft graduates and students did.  He taught aeronautics at Navy Pier, and served two years in the Pacific.  

After the war, Frank attended photography school in Connecticut and later opened Cam-Tech Camera Repairs, a Chicago-based business for 45 years.  He retired in 1990 to the Indiana Dunes area where he continued the business part-time.  He has written numerous technical articles, news stories for the local papers and several children’s stories.  He has been honored for his volunteer work at the Indiana National Lakeshore by the Friends of the Dunes.

When the Taft Alumni Association was reorganized in 1984, Frank donated his time to help the group plan Taft’s 50^th Anniversary and the 1940’s display room.

He married his sweetheart, Jane Jewell (Class of 1943). Their two children and a grandson have also attended Taft.