The Lincoln Log

With class after class graduating and going off to start their careers, it is inevitable that a member from each class will become famous. Or, at least, become somewhat well known and successful. This year, Abraham Lincoln High School has inducted two more alumni into our Wall of Fame.

The Wall of Fame Assembly took place in the auditorium at roughly 2 p.m. and the inductees were welcomed by a crowd of students and the Lincoln High School orchestra on Monday, April 30, 2007. After an introduction by senior student body president Vikki Kong and former Alumni Association president David Whitehead, the inductees were introduced.

Among the two inductees were Tom Dolan, from the class of 1942 and Amy Alexandra from the class of 1982. A distinguished faculty award was also given out during the Wall of Fame awards dinner that same day to Jerry Sullivan, a former ALHS dean.

Dolan originally attended Commerce High School while Lincoln High School was being built, but as soon as the construction was finished, transferred to Lincoln. After graduation, Dolan enrolled in the United States Navy while attending radio school at Northwestern University. He participated in a major event during World War II when he delivered a message to President Harry S. Truman from the bomber Enola Gay that referred to the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Senator Dianne Feinstein has honored Dolan with an American flag for this on Aug. 6, 2005.

Dolan later worked for the Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company, eventually becoming a member of the firm’s management before retiring in 1980. He was also a leader in many things, such as the Aid to Handicapped Children, the Kiwanis Club, and the American Legion Parkside Post. In addition to Dolan’s accomplishments, he also spent 11 years restoring the Point Cabrillo Lighthouse, of which he is now the light keeper.

Alexander, the editor-in-chief-of the Lincoln Log during her senior year, attended San Francisco State University where she became the articles editor for Prism Magazine, a student-produced paper. White attending SFSU, Alexander was awarded a writing fellowship by City University of New York at The Village Voice where she became a research assistant. She later became a staff writer for the San Francisco Examiner and the Philadelphia Daily News. She contributed to countless newspapers and in 1992, transferred to The Fresno Bee. It was there that she received the 1992 Calif. Newspaper Publisher’s Association Award for her coverage on Los Angeles riots.

Alexander became the editor of The Farrakhan Factor: African-American Writers on Leadership, Nationhood and Minister Louis Farrakhan in 1998. Soon after, in 1999, Alexander published “50 Black Women Who Changed America” and in 2000, published “Lay My Burden Down: Suicide and the Mental Health Crisis Among African-Americans” which she co-wrote with Alvin Toussaint, M.D. For that second book, Alexander was awarded the Survivor Award by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention in 2001. She is currently the editor for a new talk and informational program called The Michael Martin Show, which will open in April 2007.

Sullivan taught at Luther Burbank Junior High School from 1961-1970, Horace Mann Junior High School from 1970-1979, Roosevelt Middle School from 1979-1981, and was a dean at Abraham Lincoln High School from 1981-1998. Sullivan sponsored the Lincs Service Society in 1981-1998 at Lincoln, was in charge of the graduation ceremonies in 1994-1998, and was in charge of the Senior Awards Ceremony in 1995-1998. He was also a member of the United Educators of San Francisco, the Calif. Teachers Association, and the National Education Association.

To be inducted into the Wall of Fame, the former Lincoln High students must have either become outstanding members of their chosen profession or have been nominated by members of the Alumni Association.

After comments by the inductees, the inductees and Sullivan were presented with student body gifts by the Associated Student Body and the Alumni Scholarships were given out to several Lincoln seniors.

The Wall of Fame was created to help Lincoln students recognize the achievements of former graduates, helping the students to set goals for themselves.