Ed Poffenroth, a former Foothills County reeve and early supporter of the Okotoks Dawgs, died earlier this month at 103.
Poffenroth was one of the original group that brought the Dawgs baseball team to town in the 2000s.
He passed away on Nov. 6.
The team had been based in Calgary but needed to find a new home, and a Western Wheel article commemorating Poffenroth’s 100th birthday touches on the drive to bring the team to Okotoks.
“(Okotoks) Mayor Bill McAlpine, (Western Wheel editor) John Barlow and myself sat right here at this table and decided we have to get the Dawgs in Okotoks,” Poffenroth said during a 2021 interview at his house in Okotoks.
The Dawgs came to Okotoks in 2007 and won three consecutive league titles right out of the gate.
Poffenroth sat on Foothills County council for a decade and served as reeve from 1972 to 1979.
Growing up in the DeWinton/Red Deer Lake area, he finished Grade 8 before farm life and work took over, and he never went to high school.
Later he became active in business and in community service groups, helping out with organizations like 4-H and the Okotoks and District Seniors Club, and he played a role in building the Foothills Centennial Centre in Okotoks
A Celebration of Life will be held at Sirocco Golf Club on Dec. 7.
