Memorial Scholarships & Grants

Louis Van Doren Sr. was born in 1907 near Mansfield, WA where he spent his early years. The family of ten children moved to Wenatchee in 1921. During the summers he worked in the fruit packinghouses. In high school he was a key member of the football and baseball teams.

After graduating from Wenatchee High School in 1927, he moved to Portland and attended Oregon Institute of Technology. An educational inheritance allowed him to attend California Institute of Technology in Los Angeles. He graduated from Cal Tech with a degree in electrical engineering. This was in the middle of the depression and jobs were difficult to find. He returned to Wenatchee and went to work as a mechanic at Skookum Packers which was located at Ninth and Wenatchee Ave.

In 1946, Louis Van Doren Sr. and his wife Bonnie decided to start their own business. He had an exceptional talent for inventing and designing machines for use in the packinghouses. He also had the ability to select quality people to help build the business. His team’s first equipment mechanized the handling of wooden boxes in the packinghouse. Within ten years his business was supplying packinghouse equipment throughout the Pacific Northwest. Today Van Doren Sales is the industry leader in cherry, pear and apple industry fruit packing systems. Mr. Van Doren would be very proud to know his family’s third generation is continuing his business.

The motto “Quality Pays” was one of his favorite sayings and beliefs. He applied this philosophy to his life, family, business relationships and the products and service he provided.