Long-time Rutland champion, former city councillor, Kelowna-Lake Country MLA and Okanagan MP AL Horning has been honoured by the city.
At a ceremony in council chambers on Feb. 6, Kelowna Mayor Tom Dyas announced a road connecting the airport (YLW) and Rutland will be named after Horning.
㽶ƵֱHe set the course for the airport to become one of the top 10 busiest airports in Canada,㽶Ƶֱ said Dyas. 㽶ƵֱWhen the runway was extended by 2,000 feet in 1990 it became the longest in the interior and was instrumental in bringing air carriers such as WestJet to YLW.㽶Ƶֱ
Horning said he was grateful and surprised by the honour.
㽶ƵֱAs far as Al Horning Way is concerned, I thought they only named roads after hockey players,㽶Ƶֱ he joked.
Horning was born in 1939 in Saskatchewan, and his family first came to Kelowna on vacation in 1944.
He grew up in Rutland and started working at the Rutland sawmill at age 16.
Horning became a city councillor in 1980, serving four, two-year terms. In 1988, he was elected MP for Okanagan Centre under the Progressive Conservative banner.
After losses in the 1993 and 1997 federal elections, he returned to city council in 2002. Horning was then elected MLA for Kelowna-Lake Country in 2005, representing the BC Liberals.
He continued working on YLW expansion and a focus on recreation and business development in Kelowna, touching many parts of the city during his career. He retired from politics in 2009, but not from serving his community.
Horning was a champion snowmobile racer and founding member of the Kelowna Snowmobile Association. His summers were usually spent on the ball diamonds. He and other baseball players built King Stadium with volunteer labour after convincing the city to provide them with the land.
For these and other contributions to sport in Kelowna, Horning was inducted into the Central Okanagan Sports Hall of Fame in 2021. He credited his late wife of nearly 60 years, Donna, for supporting his work in business, politics and sport throughout their lives together, including raising their children Robert, Bradley and Sandra.
㽶ƵֱAl Horning is the epitome of a community builder,㽶Ƶֱ added Dyas. 㽶ƵֱServing his community in many ways 㽶Ƶֱ from Parliament Hill to the ball diamonds of Rutland 㽶Ƶֱ Al has spent his entire life working to improve his neighbourhood and his city.㽶Ƶֱ
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