A new, $4.7 million, 23,900-square-foot building at the Churchville Recreation Complex will be dedicated Wednesday, the latest phase in a multi-year project to expand the recreation complex off Route 155 and the programs it offers to a growing area of Harford County.The Level Building, so named for the nearby highway, includes a more than 15,000-square-foot gymnasium with two basketball courts, a fitness center, indoor and outdoor courts for "pickle ball," two courts for tennis and volleyball, which can be converted for either sport, a large multi-purpose room, a small meeting room and space for storage and Parks and Recreation offices, according to Cindy Mumby, a spokesperson for the Harford County government.The gymnasium in the Level Building will be named for a longtime Churchville resident and supporter of parks and recreation programs at the community, county and state levels, the late Eleanore "Bobbie" Kunkel."I think it's a great honor, because my mother was a pioneer," John Kunkel, 61, of Joppa, said of naming the gym after his mother. "She came upon a time when the county was rural, and she helped develop a major long-term impact on the present and future of recreation in Harford County."He and his siblings, who petitioned the county government to name the gym after their mother, plan to attend the dedication."Both the director of administration and the county executive are lifelong residents of the county, and they knew Mrs. Kunkel and they can testify to her tremendous contributions to parks and recreation in Harford County," Mumby said of the decision to honor her.With the opening of the Level Building, the existing building on the complex will be known as the Glenville Building, for another road adjacent to the complex. The Glenville Building will continue to be the home of the Churchville Recreation Council's popular gymnastics program, according to Mumby."The gymnastics program is expanding and does attract participants countywide," Mumby said. "That was growing, and this [project] provided an opportunity for them to expand in the old building."The Level Building is part of an ongoing $8.5 million county project to develop the Churchville Recreation Complex, with two multipurpose fields, a nature trail and additional recreation facilities, according to a document in the county's fiscal 2017 capital budget."Additional residential development is anticipated in this community," according to the document. "Population growth will generate demand for additional recreation facilities."Mrs. Kunkel died in May 2009 at age 81. She was the wife of Gerard Kunkel Sr., the former president of his family's chain of automotive parts and services stores, the Kunkel Service Co., and the mother of six children. Mr. Kunkel died in May 2012.Mrs. Kunkel was a founding member of the Churchville Recreation Council, which was created in 1964. She was an "instrumental" part of the community effort to get the county to purchase the land at Glenville and Route 155 and develop a recreation complex there, according to her son, John.John Kunkel and his siblings played youth sports as children. He said youths in Churchville had to go to Bel Air, about 10 miles away, to play organized sports at that time."What this did was start it in a area where there was a need, so people didn't have to go all that way," he said of the efforts of his mother and other community members to start a local recreation center.Mrs. Kunkel served on the Churchville Recreation Council, as well as the Harford County Parks and Recreation policy-making board, which was renamed the advisory board in 1972, according to a letter another son, Gerry Kunkel, formerly of Darlington, wrote to Harford County Executive Barry Glassman.Mrs. Kunkel spent 25 years on the advisory board, eight of them as chair, according to her son's letter.She was appointed to the executive board of the Maryland Recreation & Parks Association, and she was named the "Most Outstanding Board or Commission Member" in the state in 1979.Mrs. Kunkel was also a founding member of the Harford County Farm Fair, was a critical part of creating the Liriodendron Foundation, which operates the historic Liriodendron Mansion in Bel Air, and she worked to preserve open space in the county, according to Gerry Kunkel's letter."Harford County lost one of its greatest advocates for recreational and cultural activities and venues with the death last week of Eleanore L. 'Bobbie' Kunkel," The Aegis editorialized shortly after she died in 2009.Gerry Kunkel, 59, of Kennett Square, Pa., said Tuesday he remembers attending recreation council meetings with his mother, where members discussed establishing a local recreation complex in Churchville."I think it's really cool that she is being recognized, because her roots are in Churchville and she started at the Churchville Recreation Council," Kunkel said.