Douglas George Cheaney (Bolivar)'s Obituary
Douglas Gordon Paul Cheaney was born in beautiful Arcadia Valley, Missouri, on December 18, 1947, to Douglas Ringo Cheaney and Helen Flora Tong Cheaney. Doug was named for his father, his father’s college roommate, and his uncle, respectively. As he was their first child, his parents didn’t know they would have five more sons and other opportunities to honor friends and family members; that might be one reason why Doug had two middle names. A large family and small town supplied plenty of playmates for roaming the woods with .22 rifles, fishing in the creek, and exploring natural wonders like nearby Elephant Rocks. Between adventures Doug attended elementary school at Ursuline Academy and graduated from Arcadia Valley High School in 1965. He then enrolled at the University of Missouri, majoring in business administration. After a summer job on the Iron County highway department fell through, he took advantage of unemployment to hitchhike from Arcadia to the 1966 Montreal World’s Fair. That experience gave him a taste for travel, put to good use during the next three summers as he sold Bible reference books door to door in Pennsylvania and Ohio. Selling Bible-related material led to interesting conversations about religion. He recalls potential customers asking if he was saved, a question he answered in the affirmative without much thought. But during his senior year at Mizzou a campus minister befriended him and gave him a much better understanding of the Bible, the gospel, and salvation. He was baptized before graduating in 1970 and decided to pursue an interest in the Bible at Abilene Christian College in Abilene, Texas (affiliated with the Church of Christ). He signed up for four classes including a Greek class that met on MWF afternoons. As the only female among six classmates, Janie Bess McRee attracted his attention. He invited her and two other classmates to dinner at his garage apartment where, upon arriving, Janie learned that he didn’t know how to cook. She helped him heat up hot dogs, and from there a friendship developed quickly to a courtship, which led to a proposal shortly after New Year’s. They were married on January 10, 1971, after a one-week engagement. From childhood, when he accompanied his maternal grandmother to St. Louis on the Missouri Pacific and laid out elaborate model track formations on the bedroom floor, railroads were Doug’s consuming interest. Between school semesters, He and Janie chased trains in eastern Tennessee and San Jose, California. In 1973 they moved to Chama, New Mexico, where he pestered the management of the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad until they gave him a job. For the next two and a half years he worked around coal smoke and engine grease, serving as brakeman, apprentice mechanic, and backup fireman. In June 1975 the Cheaneys moved to Rusk, Texas, where Doug had accepted a job on the Texas State Railroad. The couple’s first child, Aquila Bernadette Cherubim Maricopa (going Doug’s double middle name one better) was born that November. A better job beckoned the following spring, and the family moved again to Bismark, Missouri, where Doug worked as a brakeman on the Missouri Pacific. Though it paid well, family life with Dad working the extra board (where crewmen could be called at any time) proved unsustainable for his growing family which now included Tielman Douglas Amadeus Handel, was born in June 1978. Having become a classical music enthusiast, Doug decided to go back to graduate school at Mizzou. His one year studying music was rich in experience for both Doug and Janie, as they were able to participate in performances of Handel’s Messiah and Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. That spring he applied for a white-color job with the Frisco Railroad, and the family moved to Chattanooga in June 1979, where he worked as a clerk in the sales office. After four years in Chattanooga, a transfer to Springfield led to a promotion, and in 1983 Doug became a sales representative for the Burlington Northern in Portland, Oregon. The family enjoyed living in the Pacific Northwest but were grateful to move closer to home in 1987, where Doug continued as a sales rep in Overland Park, Kansas. In 1990 Doug walked away from the BN, fed up with transfers and corporate culture. After a few false starts, he built a successful business as a transportation consultant, acting as middleman between railroad and shipper to move high, wide, and overweight items. The business took him to projects in Mexico and Canada and everywhere in between. When it began, DGC Inc. was the only company addressing these specific boundaries, but by 2010 Doug had competition and a choice to make: expand the company or retire early. He chose the latter option. By then Doug and Janie were empty-nesters, having moved to five acres in north Polk County, Missouri in 1998. They lived in their remodeled 19th century farmhouse for 24 years, near the end of which Doug was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease. In time he gracefully gave up driving, managing finances, playing piano, mowing his 5 acres with his beloved Yanmar tractor, and running his 8x12 model railroad. On November 14, Doug left this life, surrounded by his family and confident of salvation in Christ. He was preceded in death by his parents and his brothers Phil, Mike, and Mark. Survivors include his brothers Kevin Cheaney and Tim Cheaney, sister Judy Jarvis, wife Janie, daughter Aquila Fenby, son Tielman Cheaney, son-in-law Tim Fenby, and grandchildren Adriel, Ronan, Talitha, and Hazel. A memorial service will be held on December 7, 2:30 p.m. at Southern Hills Baptist Church in Bolivar, Missouri.
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