Charles Haney (Seymour)'s Obituary
R. Charles Haney
Rufus Charles Haney was born March 7, 1935 to Rufus Fred and Sarah Roop Haney. He passed away at his home June 15, 2013 surrounded by his family.
Charles was born in Bergman, Arkansas where he lived until he was nine, when his family moved to a farm in Seymour. At just 14 years old he spent a summer in Kansas working the wheat harvest season. He attended Seymour school but left school early to live in Kansas City where his three older brothers and sister were living.
He went to work for Northeast Ice Cream factory where he made and delivered ice cream. From there Charles went to work for Ford on the auto assembly line. He worked for a year even though he was too young to be employed there. His father passed away close to his 17th birthday. When he came back to Ford from attending the funeral the company insisted he bring his birth certificate. Since Charles knew he wasn’t old enough he left his position and came back to Seymour to help his mother and his sister Joyce move to Kansas City. His cousin wanted to visit the farm one more time and she brought her friend. That is how he met his beloved bride Elizabeth Kemmerer.
They started dating that May and at Christmas Charles gave Elizabeth an engagement ring. They were married the following May and celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary this year. They had three sons: Gary, Dan, and Ken. Charles built many miles of chain link fence as a contractor for Sears in the Kansas City area.
Charles and Elizabeth thought the farm would be a good place to raise their sons so in 1961 they bought a 350 acre farm near the old Pee Wee store east of Seymour. They moved to the farm in June 1962. The first couple of years Charles milked cows but later returned to building chain link fence as a contractor for Sears in Springfield. He could always point out fence he had installed as you drove through both city streets and country roads throughout southwest Missouri. He also raised beef cattle and put up hay.
In 1976 Charles went into partnership with Hal Nichols in the farm implement business. He later bought Hal’s portion and the business became Haney Implement Company. He retired from that business in the fall of 1995. He enjoyed dealing on equipment and pointing out farms he had sold equipment to. While a Massey-Ferguson dealer Charles won many trips which he and Elizabeth enjoyed. They were able to go to Hawaii, California, Florida and a Bahamas cruise just to name a few.
Charles professed his faith in Christ in 1972. He was an active member of First Baptist Church where he served on the board of trustees for many years. After the old church burned, he worked with the contractors overseeing the new church construction. He spent many long hours and days there until the project was completed.
Charles loved God and his church, being with family, telling stories of his growing up years, and raising cattle and living on the farm. He enjoyed fishing and made several annual trips to Canada in search of the “big one” and enjoyed running trot lines at Truman Lake for catfish. Family always looked forward to his fish fries.
Each of his six grandchildren was special to him and Charles loved spending time with them and keeping up with their lives. He especially enjoyed the seven great-grandchildren and talked about them a lot.
Charles and Elizabeth celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary this past Memorial Day weekend with all of their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren present. Each one was shared a favorite “grandpa” story and Charles was able to tell many stories of his youth. It was a wonderful celebration of a life well lived.
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