Margaret Ann Haney, 1938-2007

"Arnett,
Please accept my sympathy for the lost of your mentor. On June 4, I lost one of my mentors and good friend, Truman Greenwood. He had turned ninety in January. My amount of history about the American Native Indian was increased by him. I learned so much about life and how to treat people from him. I really miss Truman but he was a Christian so I hope to meet him later.

Margaret Haney"

It is time to memorialize my great friend and educator Margaret Ann (Marge) Haney, who made the transition to her heavenly pneuma, Monday, October 16, 2007, 9 pm., while the rest of us were watching Cleveland and Boston's playoff baseball war. Ralph Smucker saw her during lunch earlier that day at Panera Bread on Avery Road and said she had her usual healthy glow and infectious joy.

Her daughter, Stephanie Gerckens , said she got a call from her in the early evening that she was ill and Stephanie rushed over to the family house on Rings Road. She said Marge was pale, out of breath and told her she thought she was having a heart attack. The squad arrived and she was conscious and alert enough to answer medical questions about allergies and to tell Stephanie she loved her, but when the Washington Township Squad arrived at Riverside Methodist Hospital, she became completely pale and went into cardiac arrest.

Stephanie witnessed the hospital's huge emergency trauma team work aggressively to try to restore her heartbeat, but the tremendous efforts weren't successful and Marge was declared dead at 9 pm. I witnessed the Riverside team perform those same acts on my father, George Howard, in January, 1994, with the same results. We deliver our loved one's into God's Hands.

"Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.
Margaret Haney"

Marge Haney and I met in September, 1960, at Plain City Elementary School, where according to Ralph, she was a twenty-year-old, first-year teacher and Ralph and I were ten-year-old, first-year fifth graders. The Yankees were in the 1960 World Series against the Pirates and Bill Mazeroski hit a homer in the bottom of the ninth to win the for Pittsburgh. My heart was broken, because Elston Howard, the Yankees catcher, was my fantasy uncle and Mrs. Haney put up with my imagination that he was my relative.

1960 was a crossroads year for me because it was the year I began formal music training in piano and trumpet and three educators, starting their first seasons in Plain City schools that fall, Shirley Cox, Ray Starrett and Marge Haney. They all got behind me and gave me a big shove. Thanks to them, my life has been always fast forward.

Marge spent her life as an educator in the Plain City Schools and a church person at St. John's Lutheran in her beloved Amlin, Ohio, a tiny, traditional farming community in Northwest Franklin County. Beginning in 1988, I would come back annually into the Plain City schools to do concert and she would be around to hug me and share her pride that her boy had grown up to be a noted musician and community person.

"Thanks, I appreciate your kindness. Have a good time when you go to Florida.
Margaret Haney"

In 1996, I saw her and best friend/cousin, Betty Patch, at the Dublin Metro Fitness Club where they exercised. When she told me of her upcoming retirement as the curriculum supervisor for Jonathan Alder Schools, I told her that her retirement gift from me was a trip to Jamaica on my fall tour. So happy she was when we landed with a large group of friends and I was able to show her my second home, Negril, and take her to White Hall School. I introduced her to the school's principal, Mrs. Murray, and the two educators bonded.

Marge went on the next trip to Jamaica in 1998 and in 2002, we went to New Orleans, where I introduced her to my favorite city and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. She loved to travel and sent me cards from some of her other worldwide excursions.

"Birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live.
Margaret Haney"

Over the past couple of years we have shared together my greatest passion, besides music, women's college basketball. In January, 2006, we met over at Ohio State's Value City Arena and watched our Buckeyes fight a furious war against Oklahoma, with the Buckeye's turning the tables and winning the the final minute. That night she turned into an active fan and this past January we got together to potluck with Bill and Kathy Dancey to watch the Buckeyes and Sooners game broadcast from Norman, Oklahoma, with the same results; the Sooners played their hearts out, but the Buckeyes took home the win.

I hope she followed my 2007 Fortieth Anniversary Tour through the e-mails that I sent as I played all over Ohio and I trust that her spirit was with us as Bill Dancey and I traveled to Detroit to watch the professional women's teams play in the summer league.

I speak for thousands of her students and even more of her friends and family; WHAT A BLESSING IT IS TO HAVE MARGARET ANN HANEY IN MY LIFE!

"I am glad that you honor your friends. M. Haney"