H.L. ‘Sonny’ Callahan, former Alabama congressman, dies at 88

June 26, 2021

By News Servicesand Staff Reports,

Former congressman H.L. “Sonny” Callahan, who represented south Alabama in Congress for 18 years, died June 25. He was 88.

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R) announced the death, but further details were not available.

Mr. Callahan served in the House of Representatives from 1985 to 2003 from a district from south Alabama.

A former trucking executive, Mr. Callahan was first elected to the House in 1984 after serving as a state legislator in the Alabama House and Senate. He was a Democrat in the Alabama legislature and ran unsuccessfully as a candidate for the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor in 1982. He switched to the Republican Party when he ran for Congress.

He served as chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee on foreign operations. He then became chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee on energy and water development, a key post for water projects in Alabama. He retired from Congress in 2003.

Herbert Leon Callahan was born in Mobile, Ala., on Sept. 11, 1932, and was one of nine children. His father worked for the railroad and as a shipping clerk.

Mr. Callahan served in the Navy in the 1950s and later became president of his family’s trucking and warehouse business. He was elected to the Alabama House in 1970 and to the state Senate in 1978.

He was married in 1969 to Karen Reed, and they had six children.

Rick Heartsill, who served as Mr. Callahan’s chief of staff from 1988 to 1990, said he had a “unique ability to work with people from all walks of life and political persuasions.”

“He never lost the common touch,” Heartsill added.