10 people you likely have heard of, but may not know are from the Okanagan
These well-known individuals were either born in the Okanagan or spent significant time here
It’s a small world, after all. Many well-known British Columbians are originally from our valley, or made their mark here.
For this week’s list, we’ve come up with 10 names of people who — unless you’ve lived here all your whole life — you might not realize are from the valley.
We left off the obvious (the Bennett Family, hockey players Duncan Keith and Josh Gorges), so hopefully you, as the reader, will say, “I didn’t know that.”
At least on a few.
RICH COLEMAN
The longtime MLA from Langley East and former deputy premier of B.C. and cabinet minister was born in Nelson, but moved to Penticton at age 3.
The third of the six children of Don and Rosa Coleman, he attended St. Joseph’s Elementary School and then Pen-Hi, where he played every sport available, including hockey, basketball and football. He was also in school musicals. (“My brother Stan was the far better athlete,” he said.)
His mother was an English teacher at Princess Margaret School where she taught his future wife of 44 years, Michelle.
Following a six-year career with the RCMP, he returned to Penticton in 1980 for four years as owner of Okanagan (now Penticton) Security. He was active with Kinsmen during that time.
As his business grew, he moved to the coast and in 1996 was first elected to the Legislature. He has subsequently been re-elected five times.
He describes Penticton as “a wonderful place to grow up,” with his favourite hangouts being Luv’s Lunch and The Elite.
TONY GIOVENTU
His “Condo Smarts” column is one of the best read in The Penticton Herald and now
Kelowna Daily Courier. The syndicated column also runs in
The Victoria Times Colonist and The Province, among others. Many forget that the Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. native, now executive director and strata property adviser for the Condominium Home Owners’ Association of B.C., resided in Penticton from 1981-1986.
He moved to the area to work at Brownlee Piano & Organ Sales Ltd., which was located at 370 Main Street, where Three Wishes is now.
He taught organ lessons (one of his students, Steven LaPlante, has gone on to play church organ at St. Athanasius Church in Brooklyn, N.Y.) and was involved with sales. He also performed his own organ recitals at The Cleland Theatre.
“Tony was such a delightful, young man and he was an excellent musician,” recalls Cliff Brownlee, who owned and operated the business with his wife Verna.
“Tony was a great asset to our business and to our community.” Gioventu left Penticton when the Brownlees shut the doors to their business in 1986. For the past 25 years, he has been involved with real estate development, construction, building operations and strata property legislation.
JILLIAN HARRIS
Originally from Peace River, Alta., Jillian Harris, a lifestyle blogger and television personality, now calls West Kelowna home.
Harris first came into the spotlight on the 13th season of “The Bachelor” in 2009, which included a visit to her parents’ home in West Kelowna and Mission Hill Estate Winery with then Bachelor Jason Mesnick.
Harris then went on to make history as the first Canadian on “The Bachelorette.”
Since then, Harris has become a social media influencer with more than 800,000 followers on Instagram, where she frequently shares her life on the Westside with her fiancé Justin Pasutto and two-year-old son Leo.
Harris is also a designer on the TV show “Love it or List it Vancouver,” which is currently filming its newest season around Kelowna.
TAYLOR KITSCH
“Friday Night Lights” star Taylor Kitsch has made it big in Hollywood, but he started out in the Okanagan.
Kitsch was born in Kelowna in 1981 and later moved to Coquitlam, where he graduated high school.
His big break came in 2006 when he landed the role of a troubled high school quarterback in the NBC series “Friday Night Lights,” a role he held until 2011.
He has also starred in many well-known movies, including “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” “John Carter,” “Snakes on a Plane” and “Lone Survivor.”
Prior to becoming an actor, Kitsch lived in New York City for two years, where he has said he was homeless while pursuing a career in modeling.
Kitsch then moved to Los Angeles, where he modeled for Diesel and Abercrombie and Fitch.
LARRY KWONG
Like Jackie Robinson in baseball, Larry Kwong knocked down a colour barrier in professional sports.
Kwong, who is from Vernon, was the first Chinese-Canadian to play in the NHL.
Nicknamed King Kwong, he was a leading scorer in the minors and was called up to play for the New York Rangers on March 13, 1948. He played only one shift in the third period at the old Montreal Forum, totalling about one minute on the ice.
He never got another shot at the NHL, but it was enough to break racist barriers for future generations.
Kwong got his start playing on frozen ponds in Vernon. He joined the Vernon Hydrophones and quickly became their star player. He went on to have a successful career in the minors and over in Europe, before settling back to Canada where he ran a successful chain of grocery stores.
He passed away at the age of 94 in 2013.
MIKE RENO
Arguably, he is the most famous person to ever come out of Penticton.
While you might not know his name (he was Mike Rynoski during his days as a student at Pen-Hi), you know the voice. As lead singer and co-songwriter of Loverboy, the band had nine songs crack Billboard’s top 40 in the U.S. including “Lovin’ Every Minute of It” and “This Could Be the Night,” both which landed inside the top 10.
He had a hit single of his own when “Almost Paradise,” a duet with Ann Wilson from Heart, featured on the “Footloose” soundtrack, made it to No. 7.
“Working for the Weekend, although only a minor hit at the time of its release, remains a Canadian anthem which has been used in comedic situations over the years — “The Family Guy,” Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell) and Patrick Swayze and Chris Farley on “Saturday Night Live.”
The band, which played Penticton many times in its early years, still performs more than 75 live dates per year, yet still awaits an invite to the South Okanagan Events Centre or the Penticton Peach Festival.
VASEK POSPISIL
Professional tennis player Vasek Pospisil, who now resides in Vancouver, was born and raised in Vernon where he took up the sport under the watchful eye of his father, Milos, who was recently hired as the head tennis instructor at Predator Ridge.
The 28-year-old Vasek turned pro in 2007, has been a regular member of Canada’s Davis Cup team and has earned more than $US5 million in career prize money.
He has won six doubles titles on the ATP World Tour — highlighted by a Wimbledon championship in 2014, with American partner Jack Sock — and Pospisil has been ranked as high as fourth in doubles.
However, Pospisil has shifted his focus to singles in recent years and although he’s yet to win a title, he has climbed into the top 100 in the world rankings — currently at No. 98 after reaching a career-high No. 25 in January 2014. Pospisil also reached the 2015 singles quarterfinals at Wimbledon, where he has enjoyed some of his biggest successes, along with the Indian Wells tournament in California where he won a doubles title in 2015 and had a singles second-round victory over then-No. 1 Andy Murray in 2017.
DANIEL POWTER
The “Bad Day” singer grew up in Vernon and graduated from Vernon Secondary School in 1989. He was a child prodigy in music, starting with violin, switching to piano, and composing his own songs by the age of 13.
He was rewarded for his persistence and his breakthrough came at age 29 when his music was featured on the Canadian television show “Higher Ground.” But, everything changed with “Bad Day.” It was featured prominently on “American Idol” and in an “Alvin and the Chipmunks” movie. It was a global smash hitting No. 1 for five weeks in 2005 in the U.S. and No. 2 in the UK. He was a featured artist in the Live 8 concerts in 2005.
His follow-up singles did alright in his native Canada, most notably “Love You Lately,” “Crazy All My Life” and “Free Loop (One Night Stand),” but failed to draw an audience in the U.S. or UK.
Today he resides in Los Angeles where he’s still active in music. He’s the father of three children.
“Bad Day” is still played in heavy rotation on radio stations.
ALISON SMITH
Who knew that when Alison Smith graduated from Southern Okanagan Secondary School in Oliver in 1972 she would go on to a storied career with CBC?
She started out in Toronto on the municipal and provincial politics beat before moving on to covering national affairs and business for “The National” TV news.
The pinnacle of her career was anchoring “The National” from 1992-95.
Along the way she was also the Washington correspondent for CBC-TV covering Barack Obama’s election and host of “This Day,” “The Lead,” “Newsworld Reports,” “CBC Morning News” and “Sunday Report.”
In 2014, when she was hosting CBC Radio’s flagship news show, “The World at Six,” she decided to leave the public broadcaster as it went through more budget and staff cuts.
Smith currently hosts the weekly “Perspective” series on the cable and satellite Cable Public Affairs Channel (CPAC).
JIM TRELIVING
Most of you know Jim Treliving as one of the investors and advisers on the CBC-TV hit reality show “Dragons’ Den.”
If you watch the show, you likely also know Treliving is the coowner of the Boston Pizza chain of 400 restaurants in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico and the co-owner of Mr. Lube’s 170 locations across the country.
What you probably don’t know is Treliving was an RCMP constable in 1968 when he purchased the rights to Boston Pizza and opened his first one in Penticton.
Treliving’s time in Penticton was short, but it’s where he met his business partner, chartered accountant, George Melville, who has also been essential in building the Boston Pizza and Mr. Lube franchises.
Treliving was born in the small town of Virden, Manitoba 77 years ago and is now Vancouver-based to run his business empire.
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