In Memoriam: Lane Kranenburg 1944-2021
Lane Kranenberg, integral in making both the Alberta Motor Transport Association (AMTA) and Partners in Compliance (PIC) program what they are today, passed away Feb. 13, 2021.
Lane first served the then known Alberta Transportation Association (ATA) on the board of directors from 1974-1989, during which he was co-owner of Lyal Custom Carriers.
When ATA and the Alberta Trucking Industry Safety Association (ATISA) amalgamated in AMTA in 2001, Lane was named the association’s inaugural executive director.
“There is a perception out there that anyone can drive a truck,” he said in a Today’s Trucking story in 2001. “But these professionals behind the wheel are really being underestimated as per their ability. What we need to do as an association is that we need to recognize this industry is built on their backs.”
Lane was often behind the wheel of the truck that delivered the stage to the Professional Truck Driving Championship every year, and would then be found behind the microphone as MC of the popular event.
In 2005, Lane took on refreshing the PIC program.
“PIC is without a doubt the very best safety program that could be introduced to the trucking and transportation industry,” Lane wrote for a welcome message in the PIC 25th Anniversary coffee table book. “It is a program with benefits, the first being the money saved by simple implementation, then the abstract and permitting cost reduction. The [former] yellow license plate is a badge of honour.”
“[Lane] really mentored well, he had such a passion for industry and such a passion for PIC,” said one AMTA staff member. “He was one of those people that when you drove with him somewhere … he looked at every truck you drove by.”
In his spare time Lane was passionate about the Calgary Stampede, and was awarded a Stampede Life Member in 2017. In 2019, he was awarded the Governor General Sovereign’s Medal for Volunteers for his work with the 1988 Winter Olympics in which he was heavily involved with mascots Hidy and Howdy.
Lane was married to Vicki for 56 years, and together they have two children and three grandchildren.
“He was a great mentor of 45 years,” said AMTA Board Member Gene Orlick. “I will miss him dearly.”