"Knockout" Johnny Frayne

Name: Johnny Frayne
Alias: Knockout
Birth Name: Murl Trevethan
Hometown: Sacramento, California, USA
Died: 1988-03-29 (Age:83)
Pro Boxer: Record

This Johnny Frayne is to be distinguished from the earlier Johnny Frayne of San Francisco.

Anchorage Daily News April 1, 1988:

Services for Murl P. Trevethan, an honored volunteer and retired Seward harbormaster, were held at the Seward Chapel in Seward. A visitation preceded the service at the chapel. An informal gathering of family and friends was held at the Elks Club in Seward following the service. Mr. Trevethan, 83, died Tuesday, March 29, at Seward General Hospital following a brief illness.

He was born June 5, 1904, in Pleasant Grove, Calif. When he was 19, he became the middleweight boxing champion of Nevada under the ring name of "Knockout Johnny Frayne." He traveled to Alaska in 1930 as a deckhand on the old Alaska Steamship Line, and in 1932 he settled in Seward where he lived until his death. He worked as a surveyor for the U.S. Forest Service and was a dock superintendent for the Alaska Railroad and Northern Stevedoring Company. He served as harbormaster for the city of Seward from 1964 until his retirement in 1976. He was a member of the Seward City Council in 1960, and served as president of the Seward Senior Citizens. He was also a fireman with the Seward Volunteer Fire Department for 54 years. He received the First Lady's Volunteer Award in 1978, and was recipient of the Governor's Volunteer of the Year Award in 1985. In his leisure time, he enjoyed hunting, clam digging and gardening.

He leaves his wife of 53 years, Frances, of Seward; his son, Michael, of Anchorage; his daughters, Carol Lindsey, Sheri Sawyer and Dawn Werner, all of Seward, Susan Clarke, of Eagle River, and Murlene Wilkes, of Los Angeles; his sister, Alma Scott, of San Francisco; 19 grandchildren and two greatgrandchildren. He was preceded in death in 1966 by his son, Bernie. The family suggests memorials be sent to the Seward Volunteer Fire Department. Burial was in the Seward Cemetery.