Dr. George Fraley ’51

Dr. George Fraley graduated from Ballard High School in 1951. He received his DDS from the University of Washington in 1958. After graduating in Dentistry, he was offered a teaching position at the UW, which was an honor for a recent graduate. For the next few years, he also practiced Dentistry in Seattle’s Green Lake area.

In 1961, Dr. Fraley and his family moved to Juneau Alaska where he established a dental practice. During this time, 1961 through 1979 he became involved in city government and served two terms on the Juneau City Council, one as Vice Mayor and one on the Borough Assembly. He was a key individual in combining the Town of Douglas, the City of Juneau and the Borough of Juneau into a unified government. In 1964, he was appointed by the State of Alaska as an Alaska State Representative for the Pacific Coast Dental Directors Conference. In 1965, the State of Alaska Department of Health appointed Dr. Fraley, along with four other health professionals, to the Operation Head Start program. They provided services to native village children scattered throughout Alaskan peninsula and Aleutian Islands. The Governor of Alaska appointed George to the Board of Dental Examiners, which is a position he held from 1967 to 1973. Dr. George was honored by his peers when he was elected 1971-1972 President of the Alaska Dental Society. He accepted an appointment by the Alaska Dental Society to serve as a Delegate for Alaska to the American Dental Association. In 1972, he was asked to serve on the Hospital Ship HOPE in Natal, Brazil where he lectured to the faculty of the dental school and clinically instructed the students for two months.

Dr. Fraley and his wife (Judy Cannon ’52) moved to Friday Harbor, San Juan Islands, Washington in 1979 where he opened a private practice, which he operated for ten years. During his free time, he served as assistant football coach and official at Friday Harbor High School. George was a co-founder of the Friday Harbor Athletic Association, which is completing six sports fields, community building, parking, irrigation and lights. He finally set the drill and mirror aside after forty years of active practice and numerous volunteer, political, elected, and appointed positions.