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Alfred "Bear" Ketzler, Jr.
Alfred "Bear" Ketzler, Jr. was born in 1956 and is the oldest of six children of Delois (Burggraf) and Alfred "Al" Ketzler, Sr. He grew up in Nenana and Fairbanks, Alaska during the 1950s and 1960s when his parents were deeply immersed in the struggle for Alaska Native land claims and passage of the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA). He remembers his mother taking her children to meetings, the many visitors who passed through their home and the conversations about Native issues, land, and political strategy, and attending the first Tanana Chiefs Conference (Dena’ Nena’ Henash) held in Tanana in 1962. Bear served in the US Marine Corps and attended Sheldon Jackson College in Sitka, Alaska and the University of Alaska Fairbanks. From 1982 to 1998, he worked for the Tanana Chiefs Conference in their natural resources department, and then served as tribal administrator in Nenana. He currently volunteers with the Salvation Army in Fairbanks and supports Native youth activities in the community.