With seven fellow former Citizens of the Year looking on, Chris Ayling was presented with the 2011 honour today (Jan. 18) during the Cranbrook Chamber of Commerce’s inaugural meeting of the year.

Ayling was introduced to the packed Heritage Inn luncheon crowd by fellow Cranbrook Connected committee member Gord Johnston.

“He’s got proud parents here, for sure,” Johnston opened before outlining how he met Ayling – when both were running for City of Cranbrook council in the fall of 2008.

While pointing out that neither of them was elected, he suggested it was to Cranbrook’s benefit that Ayling didn’t capture a seat on council because of the work he’s done since that time, including being a part of the Integrated Community Sustainability Plan (ICSP), which led to Cranbrook Connected.

“He was the right choice for chair,” Johnston said. “That’s where we really began to see Chris perform. Chris was pretty phenomenal.”

Johnston described a number of attributes of Ayling’s character that made him the right person for the job as chair of Cranbrook Connected, including being “the ultimate volunteer. He has incredible integrity and it has really inspired a lot of people around him.”

Ayling has integrity and sincerity “in spades,” he said, adding, “From the very first meeting he set the tone and that’s what a leader does.”

Johnston borrowed a Vince Lombardi quote to describe Ayling’s tireless work ethic.

“Leaders aren’t born they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work. And that’s the price we’ll have to pay to achieve that goal, or any goal,” he said, adding. “Chris doesn’t take a break.”

He joked how Ayling became synonymous with the “bing” on his home computer, signaling a new email had arrived.

“Everytime we heard the ‘bing’ of the email we thought, it’s gotta be Chris again,” he said, explaining with a laugh that emails would arrive late in the evening or early in the morning, almost always Ayling forging forward with Cranbrook Connected work.

“He wanted to do the best he could do” and “do something different,” Johnston said. “I believe Cranbrook Connected and the document that come from it is one of the more significant things I’ve seen here (Cranbrook),” he said, noting he’s lived in the city for 24 years.

Cranbrook Mayor Wayne Stetski said Ayling and wife Trina “have been great assets to the community,” before he presented them with a gift clock. “Thank you for your exceptional work,” he said.

Ayling joked that when he heard Gord (Johnston) was going to be making the award presentation, “I thought it was going to be a roast, but I escaped pretty much unsinged.”

He deflected Johnston’s accolades to his fellow Cranbrook Connected committee members: Linda Holmes, Dave Butler, Dave Hall, Mike Pearson, Johnston and Laurie Cordell.

“Anyone of you could be up here,” he said.

Ayling thanked past Cranbrook Mayor Scott Manjak and his council for seeing the value in Cranbrook Connected and helping to push it forward, as well as current Mayor Stetski and his council for keeping it alive.

He also sang the praises of the Cranbrook Chamber of Commerce. “The best chamber in the province – pretty amazing,” he said, referring to the chamber being awarded as the Top Chamber in B.C. in 2011.

Along with Ayling being honoured, luncheon emcee, Regional District of East Kootenay communications manager Loree Duczek, the 2003 Citizen of the Year, introduced six former Citizens of the Year, including Bud Abbott (1992), Gary Anderson (1994), Marvin Fennessy (1995), Nella Rounsville (2005), Dr. ArnoldLowden (2008) and Art Gruenig (2010) – all pictured above.

Each recipient of the honour has “contributed to the collage that makes this city unique,” Duczek said.

Cranbrook’s chamber has been honouring a Citizen of the Year since 1973.

Go to the following website for a look at the work Ayling help create: http://www.cranbrookconnected.ca/

Ian Cobb/e-KNOW

---

Article Share

---