Memorable Manitobans: Arthur Frederick “Kit” Kitney (1919-2004)

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Arthur Frederick Kitney
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Journalist, outdoorsman.

Born at Fort William [now Thunder Bay], Ontario on 30 October 1919 and raised at Dauphin, he served as a Flight Sergeant in the Royal Canadian Air Force during the Second World War. Upon his return, he joined the staff of the Winnipeg Tribuneand in 1946 became its Outdoors Editor covering hunting, fishing and wildlife conservation. His column “Sportsmen Afield” ran from 1946 until the paper’s closure in 1980. He also contributed articles to Field and Stream and other outdoors publications. He was a founding member, in 1957, of the Outdoors Writers of Canada.

In 1969, he was awarded the Frank H. Kortright Award for excellence in outdoors writing by the Toronto-based Canadian National Showmen’s Association and an Award of Merit from the American Association for Conservation Information. In 1980, Vince Leah wrote of Kitney: “Kit has been a lover of the outdoors ever since he was a tad ... (He) is the type of fellow who, if treed by a bear, would simply enjoy the view.”

He met Audrey Mae Whitcomb (c1925-1988) of Lethbridge, Alberta while both were wireless operators during the Second World War. They married at St. Georges Anglican Church in Transcona on 11 December 1945 and subsequently had a son Richard Kitney and a daughter Barbara Ruth Penelope Kitney (1948-2019). The family home was at 912 Talbot Avenue.

He died at Winnipeg on 21 November 2004.

Sources:

“Kitney - Whitcomb,” Winnipeg Tribune, 19 December 1945.

“Wins award,” Winnipeg Free Press, 18 March 1969.

“Vince Leah: Who Remembers Old Horseshoe Clubs?,” Winnipeg Tribune, 5 January 1980.

Obituary [Audrey Kitney], Winnipeg Free Press, 12 April 1988, page 42.

Obituary [Barbara Ruth Penelope Friesen], Cropo Funeral Chapel.

Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 8 August 2019.

Henderson’s Winnipeg and Brandon Directories, Henderson Directories Limited, Peel’s Prairie Provinces, University of Alberta Libraries.

This page was prepared by Christian Cassidy.

Page revised: 8 August 2019

Memorable Manitobans

Memorable Manitobans

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