King, A. Richard, 1919-2005

• Alfred Richard King

A. (Alfred) Richard King first came to the territory in 1939 when he was attempting to establish a new bush airline in Alaska and the Yukon Territory. Unfortunately, King and his two partners lost their plane and equipment when they crashed in Teslin Lake while on their way to Alaska from the United States. They were rescued by residents of the First Nation village of Teslin, the only community on the lake. King returned to the states after spending 6 weeks in Teslin. After the war King graduated from Western Washington College and became an elementary school teacher in Washington. In 1949 he went to Saipan and taught for a year and then remained in the Trust Territory of the Pacific (Islands) for the next five years teaching and administering the development of the native elementary schools in the islands. He continued to develop his interest in applied anthropology and its relevance to educational administration and educational assistance programs. In 1964 he was granted a PhD degree at Stanford, his major fields of study were education and cultural anthropology. In 1963-1964 King spent a year as a fourth-grade teacher and participant-observer at Chooutla (Carcross) Residential School in Carcross, Yukon and this resulted in his doctoral dissertation. In 1967 he published "The School at Mopass: a problem of identity" which was based on his thesis. In 2005 he was living in Brentwood Bay, B.C. with his son Peter and grandsons. Dr. King died August 14, 2005.

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