Frederick Reginald Boss (1900 – 1981)
Fred Boss was a hereditary chief of the Lake Laberge Indian Band.1) He was the son of Kathleen and Chief Jim Boss.2) Fred married Lydia Linda Hanson as a young man, and they had ten children. Lydia died in 1977.3)
Fred Boss worked as a deckhand on the White Pass & Yukon Route steamers and rose to the rank of First Mate.4) Martha Cameron remembered that a plane with fifteen passengers going from Texas to Nome was stranded at Fort Selkirk for five days. The passengers were farmed out and every night they had a sing-along. After four days Fred, who was at the site with the Hazel B, made medicine for them and the plane got away successfully.5)
During the second World War, Fred worked with the United States Army building airports and the Alaska Highway. He worked for the cities of Skagway and Whitehorse and was an inspector on the White Pass Railway.6)
Fred was active in the Anglican Church and was also interested in preserving his culture and music. He helped others and acted as a court interpreter when needed. He was survived by children Freddy Jr., Harry in Anchorage, Florence Dyke, Carol Connelly, Dorothy Ewing and Phyllis Boss of Anchorage. Fred Boss died in Anchorage.7)