Obituaries

Charles Robert McHaney, Jr., age 96, of Pickford, Michigan, passed away peacefully at the White-Wiles Assisted Living facility on Saturday, September 16, 2023.

Born March 23, 1927, in his grandmother’s home in Hickory Ridge, Arkansas, Charles Robert “Bob” “Mac” McHaney Jr. moved north with his parents in 1930 to Flint, Michigan, so his father could find work during the Great Depression. Bob’s father, Bob Sr., took any day job he could find while Bob’s mother played sheet music on the piano for customers at a local store. She earned three pennies for each piece of music she sold. “Bobbie”, age 3, sat under the piano and listened, and, all his life he enjoyed entertaining people by singing a wide repertoire of the songs he learned while his mother played. He remembered living on corn meal mush and little else.

During his childhood and early teen years, Bob spent most summers with his grandparents in Arkansas, helping his aunts and cousins “chop” cotton. Winters he lived in Michigan with his parents. He attended Saginaw High School where he participated in gymnastics and track. As a high jumper, he cleared six feet, which earned him a bit of fame in the early 1940s world of high school sports.

Slated to graduate in 1944, Bob opted to join the Navy to earn a promised college scholarship after completing his World War II service. He was stationed first on the Battleship New Jersey, where he worked in the powder room with the knowledge that if the ship took a hit, even one that would not sink it, his area would be flooded with all sailors there lost. Later, he served on Eniwetok Island, part of the Marshall Islands Chain in the South Pacific. There, he attained the rank of Petty Officer Third Class – Storekeeper. He served in the U.S. Naval Reserve for 10 years.

When the war ended, Bob attended Michigan State University, where he studied agriculture and education with the goal of becoming an agriculture and farm shop teacher. He met the love of his life, Patricia Ann Sawyer, in an English class, where she was the top student – and he wasn’t. They dated for about a year and married on September 3, 1948. She worked as a secretary to put Bob through his undergraduate studies and then as he earned a Master’s Degree in Soils. Bob continued his schooling later in life, taking post graduate science courses from 1968 through 1971 at University of Wisconsin-River Falls.

During the early years of their marriage, Bob worked in various school systems in lower Michigan, but when he accepted a job as the agriculture and shop teacher in the little Upper Peninsula town of Pickford, he and Pat knew they had found “home”.

Bob “Mac” loved his students and said that he learned as much from the local farmers as their children learned from him. A farm kid himself, he loved visiting the local farms, and before a veterinarian moved to the area, he also did what he could to help ailing farm animals. During his years at the Pickford Public Schools, he began the October carnivals to earn money for the PHS Future Farmers of America, he directed a couple of high school plays, including “Luke the Spook”, which he wrote. He started a chess club and a gymnastics group, and also served as a track coach, golf coach, and a “C” team basketball coach. He was once selected as the U.P. Track Coach of the Year. During the later years as a teacher, Bob recognized the need for hands-on training for non-college bound students. He always felt their talents were as important as any academic abilities. Tackling the State of Michigan education gurus was not easy, but he finally convinced them to give Pickford Public Schools a grant, which funded a building program headed by Stan Watkins, a local builder. Pickford students eventually built an entire house, which drew the attention of educators from a wide area. The Pickford program was eventually moved to Sault Ste. Marie and became the Sault Area Career Center, which serves high school students from the entire Eastern Upper Peninsula.

Bob’s hobbies included golf, and he might just remind you that he scored a hole-in-one three different times. He was a member of the founding board of the Munoscong Golf Club. He also loved to fish and hunt and camp. After Bob’s retirement he and his wife moved to Searcy, Arkansas, to take care of Bob’s parents. While there they attended the Searcy United Methodist Church where they were active in an adult Sunday School class and also joined several church and community groups. They loved to visit assisted living homes and put on musical programs, Bob singing and Pat accompanying him on the piano.

Most important in Bob’s life was his dedication to the Lord. As a young person he had been active in the Bridgeport Congregational Youth Group and attended their reunions for years. When he came to Pickford he and his family joined the Methodist Church, where he rededicated his life to the Lord. Over the years, he served as a Sunday School teacher, the youth group leader, the lay reader, and was on many committees and also the official board. When he and Pat moved back to Pickford in their eighties, Bob was a tender caregiver for his wife, who was suffering from white matter dementia. After her death, he felt the need to revamp the midweek prayer meeting at the Methodist Church, and he carefully kept track of the prayer requests of the EUP area. He led the meetings until a stroke at age 94 took most of his eyesight, but he still practiced a strong prayer life.

Bob was preceded in death by his beloved wife Pat, his parents Bob and Kate (Lowry) McHaney, granddaughter, Koral Kristine Harrison, his sister Jean McHaney Oberlin, brother-in-law Gerald Oberlin, and brother-in-law and sister-in-law Wilson “Bill” and Maxine (Tost) Sawyer.

Bob leaves behind his five children: Sue (Neil) Harrison of Pickford, Robert (Donna) of Dafter, Michigan, John (Jody Caudill) of Holland, Michigan, Roger (Annette) of Manhattan, Kansas and DeTour, Michigan, and Patricia (Tom) Walker of Pickford. His thirteen grandchildren: Neil (Tonya) Harrison, Krystal Harrison, Amy McHaney, Dylan (Stephanie) Donnelly, Stephen (Amy) Crawford, Frances (Nick) Malaska, Amber Hamlett, Jonathan (Krysta VanDyke) McHaney, Mark (Stacy) McHaney, Matthew McHaney, Megan (Jordan) Lundquist, Erin (Logan) Towsley, and Katelyn (Jiaan) Burford. His seventeen great-grandchildren: Taylor and Rylee Harrison, Logan Crawford, Adrian and Tristan Guerra, Allison Donnelly, Elizabeth, Christopher and Chloe Sturgeon, Kiegan and Kaisley Hamlett, Riah Carlson, Celeste and Persephone McHaney, and Brya, Gabriel and Mathew Towsley.
He is also survived by his brother Bruce (Fay) McHaney, and sisters Ruth (Mark) Danner, and Linda (Keith) Shelby, and many beloved nieces and nephews, cousins and friends.

Visitation will be held on Sunday, September 24, 2023, at 1 PM, and a Celebration of Life will follow at 2 PM at the Pickford Global Methodist Church, 115 Church St. Pickford, MI 49774. Pastor Timothy Bashore will conduct the service.

Memorial contributions may be made in Bob’s honor to the Pickford Global Methodist Church, 115 Church St. (PO Box 128) Pickford, MI 49774, or to the White -Wiles Assisted Living (Superior Health Support Systems, 2956 Ashmun St, Ste. 139, Sault Ste. Marie, MI 497983.