Debate Over Renaming Arizona's Casa Grande Airport

So what's in a name? In Casa Grande (AZ), the answer is "moderate controversy."

The city's Heritage Commission this week decided not to rename the airport, which has been owned by the city since 1957. But some locals want to rename the airport in honor of the man they say was Casa Grande's first pilot, Earl Osborne, Sr.

"Growing up in Casa Grande I knew Earl Osborne well," wrote John T. Turner, who now lives in Oregon. He was quoted in the Casa Grande Tri-Valley Central. "As a young teenager I was his paperboy and learned to fly at the airport owned, in part, by him. In January 1942, I was in the airplane with him when the accident that took his life occurred."

But before that happened, Osborne had become part-owner of Casa Grande Municipal. His widow, Gertrude, sold the airport to George Gomez, Sr., after the accident. Gomez also died in an aviation accident. There was some sentiment at the commission for naming the airport in his honor as well.

But members of the commission last month voted 5-1 against renaming the airport. "I feel the name Casa Grande Municipal Airport has some heritage to it," Commissioner Mikel Diwan said. "I would hate to lose that."

That didn't satisfy Osborne's granddaughter, Earllyn Osborne-Brown. "Sometimes people change their names or their residences," she said, "and there is a time frame when people get used to the change.... Many, many airports have their names changed. You don't see the cities falling apart."

Now that the commission has made its decision, the Osborne clan will focus its attention on naming a new airport terminal in honor of the local flying legend. Osborne-Brown says, after all, Osborne was the city's first aviator. Somehow, someone should remember that.

FMI: www.ci.casa-grande.az.us/airport/airport.php