A round of applause, for Ken Harding - great citizen
Seniors Choice Newsmagazine
January 2006
- By Rudy Loeser -
It was a glittering affair on November 16 of last year, when the directors of the United Way of the Central and South bestowed the organization's coveted Community Distinction Award on Ken Harding. The evening offered everything such celebrations are famous for, from hundreds of well wishers mingling with the local glitterati, and a champagne reception to an outstanding dinner which was sumptuous even by the normal excellent standards of cuisine coming out of the kitchens of the Coast Capri Hotel. And there were the speeches lauding this outstanding citizen, and congratulations from the Premier, from Senator Ross Fitzpatrick, Walt Gray, the City's former mayor and assorted representatives from all levels of government. As grand an evening as ever there was and I can't think of anybody who deserved the honours more than Ken Harding. And all of it was kept moving nicely by that ubiquitous Master of Ceremonies Mike Roberts.
I first met Ken Harding a few years after I arrived in Kelowna. The occasion was the Charter Night of the Okanagan Mission Rotary Club, attended by Rotarians from the entire District, which encompasses the BC Interior as far north as Kamloops and the northern part of the State of Washington. I had just performed a song about the work of Rotary that I had written for the occasion when Ken Harding came to congratulate me. Thus I met the man with whose company I had been insuring my home and automobiles. Rotarians considered him an outstanding citizen and, as can be expected, he had been elected President of his Club.
Later, we shared an interest in Kelowna's Chamber of Commerce for which I was organizing membership and fundraising campaigns. Again, Ken Harding was front and centre, and always available with good advice and good ideas. The following year I was delighted to discover that he and his wife Gwen were subscribers to the concerts, as well as benefactors, of the Okanagan Symphony Society, demonstrating again that he was a man who not only cared deeply about this community but also had good taste in music.
Over the years, Ken took on many other responsibilities besides running a successful business. Apart from the aforementioned work with Rotary International and the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce, of which he had also been President, he served with, and became Governor of, the Kinsman Club of Kelowna, a board member for 15 years of the Central Okanagan Foundation, became a founding member of the Central Okanagan Bursary and Scholarship Society which, under his stewardship, increased its financial substance from a few hundred dollars to over a million. He also served on the board of BCIT and became honourary Chairman of the Gellatly Farm Society.
Not bad for a man who was born in Kamloops, where his parents had moved during a dry spell of father Harding's business. Two years later, the family, parents and seven kids, moved back to Kelowna where Harding senior established a store selling hardware, furniture and appliances, just a block up Bernard Avenue from Bennett's store, which sold the same type of goods. After graduating from Kelowna High School, Ken worked at Harding and Sons store for six years until he joined Jim Whillis in his insurance business, in which he eventually became a partner. That would have been in 1960. Since then Whillis Harding Agencies has grown and prospered, with offices in Kelowna, Westbank, the Mission and Lake Country.
Ken is retired now. He'll be 80 this year, though he certainly doesn't look it. Still dropping in on the offices that bear his name and that of Jim Whillis. Even though the company is now part of Western Financial Group, we know - you and I - that we'll always do business with Whillis Harding, no matter who owns the company. They are part of this community, the Okanagan and our history. And the thanks go to Ken Harding, one of our most revered citizens, a fine human being and great friend to many of us. |
