BEQUEST

[Pnyx 1960]

The widow of Louis S. Haney of Fenwick, Edith B, Haney, who died in 1959, left in her will the sum of twenty thousand dollars for student scholarships and for help in buying books for the  Pelham District High School. The trust fund is to be administered by the  School Trustees. The interest each year is to be divided into five  parts: four of these are to be given as scholarships to such members(not exceeding four) of the graduating class who have  excelled in their school work and who may be  in need of assistance to study in an institution of higher learning; the fifth part is to be used to buy new books  for the school library.

Mrs. Haney and her husband were natives of the district. The daughter of Thomas Robinson, she as born just across the Chippawa near Beckett’s Bridge, Lou Haney was born in Fenwick in the house where theHerrs  now live next door to Mr. Crossley. His father Johnson Haney was a thresher.

Lou Haney started out as a carpenter and, in partnership with William Ryan, ran a planing mill. They built the store where the Newstead Hardware is now. There, Mr. Haney went into the hardware business. When power pumps were introduced he sold them to farmers to take the place of the old hand pumps. He would leave a pump with a farmer to try out and the man, finding the  machine so much more efficient on a bleak fall morning than endlessly pumping troughs full of water for thirsty cows and horses, would buy it. Mr. Haney was a good salesman. Later when radios were  coming into common use, he sold them.too, throughout the district. He built up a successful business.

Lou Haney, a devout man, joined the Church of God. It is interesting to know that he  was baptized in Garner’s pond. Both he and Mrs. Haney were faithful members of the Fonthill Church of God as long as they lived.

He had married Edith Robinson and they built a house on Maple Avenue where they had a garden. On week-ends and holidays she would make up a picnic lunch and they would drive around the peninsula picking up rocks and stones from Stoney Creek to Queenston and from the  shore of Lake Erie for their rock garden. They collected garden ornaments and pieces of statuary. The garden was their hobby and they were proud of it, it is still a show place.

In the early nineteen-thirties Mr. Haney became ill. He went up north for his health but failed to recover and died shortly after returning to Fenwick.

Mrs. Haney as  left alone with her house and garden. She  had not been able to carry on the business during her husband’s illness and it was sold. After his death, acting on the advice of the late Arthur Armbrust and others, Mrs. Haney invested her money wisely. It was  a time when stocks and other securities were low in price. She was able to hold her  investments till the more than doubled in value. Unfortunately her health failed and she had to give up her activities.

Mrs. Haney had been an active worker in the village and church organizations. She was interested in Women’s Institute and until her last illness was a member of the Maple Acre Library Board and, for many years, its secretary.

The school has been fortunate in having had so many public spirited citizens in the vicinity and who have supported its work in different ways. We are apt to forget those who have gone before  us. Mrs. Haney and her husband will be remembered by name. The awards of scholarships will be known as the  Louis S. And Edith B. Haney Scholarships. Let us hope  their generosity will long be appreciated.