Chaney Family Roots

My great grandfather was William Rufus Chaney and I never knew him. My father has told me stories about him, but he died in 1948, more than 10 years before I was born. I can barely remember his wife, who I knew as "Granny Chaney", she died when I was only 8 years old. My parents have recently given me many old pictures and items that belonged to my grandparents and great grandparents and this has kindled a fire within me to get to know these people. I look at the pictures and I wonder about them, what kind of people were they? What were their likes and dislikes? What was it like when they were growing up? I hope to find out as much of this as I can, but my best resources for information are gone. All of my grandparents are gone as well as my father. My mother is all that is left and she is well into her seventies. There is much that is lost, but I will try to preserve what I can. WR Chaney was my grandfather. I'm told that "WR" were not initials for anything, the name on his birth certificate was just "WR". I know that his friends often called him "Dub" and it amazes me how little I know about this man. I know that he worked in a liquor store in the 1950's and later worked for Arnholz Coffee Company before starting his own company, Tri-State Restaurant Equipment Service.

As I was growing up, I saw him as a quiet man who rarely showed emotion. If you got on his bad side (which I did on more than one occasion) you could expect a glare and the silent treatment. He is actually the person who gave me my first job. I worked for him at the age of 10 cleaning his shop for 50 cents an hour. I was grateful for the opportunity to work 10 hours on Saturday's for a $5 dollar bill. He enjoyed coin collecting and would show me his collection from time to time. He gave it to me when he got older and to my shame, I sold it all for a few bucks. If he found out, he never mentioned it to me. In his later years, he mellowed aomewhat and I'm told that he was very proud of me. He never told me, I don't think he knew how. After I was grown and married, we used to visit their home in Clarendon and we would talk some. I felt that he was beginning to open up to me. Unfortunately, I moved away and did not see him as often. Time was not on on our side and Alzheimer's began to take him. I'm not sure he knew who I was the last time we met. He passed on in 1994 at the age of 79. I remember my father telling him goodbye from the funeral home, just as I would say goodbye to him one day.

One of the things that my parents taught me when I was growing up is that family is very important. You honor your father and mother and take good care of your wife and children. My father taught me this by example. There is so much that I have learned from this man, much that he never attempted to teach me, so much that can never be taught except by example. The love and respect that I have for both of my parents along with the gratitude for everything that they have done for me know no bounds. I can only hope to provide this for my children for it is beyond priceless. William Dean Chaney was born on October 24, 1936 in the small east Texas town of Alba. He was the only child born to WR and Loretta Chaney. When he was 2 or 3 years old, they packed him up and they all moved to Memphis, Texas. The nation was in the grip of the great depression and the family had to travel to find work. They picked cotton in the local fields for several years before moving on to Hereford, Texas. They finally settled in Amarillo, Texas where WR and Loretta both found work at the Pantex Nuclear Plant east of town during World War II. The family settled into a small home on East 16th street and it was here that my father met my mother. The rest, as they say, is history. My parents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 2006 and they continue to be a treasure to me. On July 30, 2015, my world changed forever. My father, William Dean Chaney passed away quietly at his home in Graham, Texas. I got the call at about 1:30 on that Friday morning. I was in my car and on my way by 3:00 AM. My Mom and my sisters held each other and we cried, but we had been preparing ourselves for this moment for quite some time. In January, he was in the hospital and none of us thought he would make it out, but he did and having for another 7 months was truly a blessing.