Obituary:
"HARRY E. CHANEY DIES AT HOSPITAL HERE EARLY TODAY Founded Florence Laundry And Florence Hotel; Was At One Time Engaged in Western Montana Mining. Harry E. Chaney, founder and president of the Florence Laundry Company and Secretary and Treasurer of the Independent Oil Company, died of heart disease at a local hospital at 7 o'clock this morning. Mr. Chaney, a pioneer, came to Montana in 1887 when he engaged in the hotel business at Billings. A year later he came to Missoula and opened the Florence hotel in 1888. During the same year he established the Florence Laundry. He continued as manager of the Florence until January 13, 1913, 15 years ago, when the hotel burned. After supervising the rebuilding of the structure he severed his connection with the hotel in order to devote his whole time to the laundry business. In 1909 he built the Chaney block on East Front Street in which the Florence Laundry and the furniture department of the Missoula Mercantile Company are located. For a number of years he was engaged in mining activities in Western Montana and in the Coeur d'Alene District. Mr. Chaney, who was 67 years of age, was born in Ogle County, Illinois, in 1860. He came to Montana when 27 years of age and up to the time of his death has been actively engaged in the hotel and laundry business. At various times he has been identified with other business organizations in Missoula and Western Montana. He was a member of the Missoula Chamber of Commerce and an active and prominent lay member of the Baptist Church. His body will lie in state at the Marsh & Powell Mortuary until 7 o'clock this evening, when it will be removed to the Baptist Church to lie in state until 8 o'clock by the Rev. A.S. Cross, D.D. The casket will be closed prior to the services and will not be reopened. He is survived by two brothers, George W. Chaney of Newell, Iowa, and M. J. Chaney of Vermillion, S.D., and a sister, Mrs. J. D. S. Riggs of Denver, Co. The body will be shipped on the Olympian at 8:40 o'clock tomorrow morning, to Newell, Iowa, for burial. George W. Chaney, a brother, will accompany the body east. Interment will take place in the family plot of Newell.'
[Daily Missoulian 2 May 1928]

Obituary: "HARRY E. CHANEY DIES AT HOSPITAL Missoula Business Man Succumbs to Brief Illness With Heart Disease. Harry E. Chaney, aged 67 years, well known business man of Missoula, died at a local hospital yesterday following a brief illness. Mr. Chaney was stricken with heart trouble a short time ago and while his condition improved for a time, the attack which came over him while he was in the Baptist church recently eventually caused his death. Mr. Chaney came to Missoula in 1888 from Billings as manager of the Florence hotel. During the same year he established the Florence Laundry. He retired from the management of the hotel 15 years ago. For years he was also active in mining activities in Western Montana and the Coeur d'Alene District and in 1909 he built the Chaney block which now houses the Florence Laundry Company property on East Front Street. Mr. Chaney was a native of Illinois, born 67 years ago in Ogle County, and came to Montana when 27 years of age. Funeral services were conducted at 8 o'clock last night at the Baptist church by Rev. A. S. Cross. Following the services the body was removed to the Marsh & Powell undertaking place, where it will be held until this morning when it will be sent on the Olympian passenger train of the Milwaukee, to Newell, Iowa, for burial. George W. Chaney, a brother, will accompany the body east today. Mr. Chaney was prominently identified with the civic life of Missoula for many years. He is survived by two brothers, George W. Chaney of Newell, Iowa, and M. J. Chaney of Vermillion, S.D., and a sister, Mrs. J. D. Riggs of Denver."
[Daily Missoulian 3 May 1928]

Obituary:
"HARRY E. CHANEY LAID TO REST IN NEWELL SUNDAY Died at Home in Missoula, Montana May 2 After Short Illness. Harry E. Chaney, who died at Missoula, Montana, Wednesday, May 2, was buried in Newell Sunday, May 6. Services were held in the Geo. W. Chaney home, the Rev. R.O. Chaney of Kansas City giving the funeral sermon. Rev. J. Jensen assisted in the services. IN MEMORIAM A sister, Mrs. J. D. Riggs, of Denver Colo., could not be present on account of the serious illness of her husband. M. J. Chaney and son Morris of Vermillian, South Dakota were present, also a daughter, Mrs. Ralph Collins. Carolyn Chaney came from Minneapolis and Carlton from Chicago to attend the funeral services. Four of the bearers were nephews of the deceased; Morris, Osborn, Carlton, and Gerald Chaney, also Ernest Norton and Jas. Brown. Harry E. Chaney of Missoula, Montana, a former resident of Newell, who died May 2, was often spoken of as a 'Prince of a Fellow.' For many years he was proprietor of the Florence Hotel of that city, where by his genial friendliness and sterling character, he made scores of friends throughout the West. After leaving the hotel he gave his time to other business interests including the Florence Laundry which he had previously organized and in the year 1909 housed in a fine substantial building. Mr. Chaney, as a pioneer in Missoula, was the moving spirit in many of its civic and business affairs and was responsible for numerous developments there of which the city has become justly proud. Yet it was not primarily for these successful business and civic enterprises that Harry E. Chaney's memory is afectionately cherished. He enshrined himself in the hearts of those who now mourn him, by such warm-hearted generosity and unselfish devotion to his family and to his fellow men as it is given to but few to achieve. Another's need was a challenge he delighted to meet, another's sorrow a never-failing awakener of sympathy, another's pleasure, his own highest joy. His hands, his heart, his possessions--whatever he had to benefit others, he surrendered with an open-hearted love that endeared him to all those who came to know him. We do not think of his as fallen, now. We think of him as risen to the more blessed experience of the life beyond--that life of the crown--that life incorruptible--that life eternal through Christ in whom he.......[a line is missing].
Funeral services were held Wednesday evening in the First Baptist Church of which he had been a staunch and faithful member. The pastor, Rev. Cross paid a beautiful tribute to is [sic] memory, and the quartet, 'Abide with Me' and solo, 'Crossing the Bar' sung by Mrs. Mary High, special favorites of Mr. Chaney, were sung. The kindness of his many Missoula friends will ever be remembered gratefully by the brothers who were with him, as also the beautiful flowers sent in during his illness and later bring cheer and comfort. The Chaney families appreciate very much the kindness of friends and neighbors and expressions of sympathy shown in so many ways. The lovely flowers, emblems of the resurrection spoke quietly their message of hope and cheer. A memorial service was held in Newell Sunday, May 6th at 2 p.m. at the home of his brother, Geo. W. Chaney. Rev. John Jensen, pastor of the Baptist Church offered prayers and rad the Bible lesson. A duet 'Resignation' was sung by Mrs. Vogel and Jean Conley and a solo, 'The Home of the Soul' by Mrs. Vogel. These were full of comfort and hope as was also the address which was made by a nephew of the deceased, Rev. R. O. Chaney, Pastor of the Ivanhoe Park Congregational Church of Kansas City, Missouri. As a number have spoken of the helpfulness of this message to those in sorrow, a part of it will be given and so passed on to others its note of cheer and hope for the future life. Funeral Address. The funeral address was made by Rev. Roy O. Chaney, of the Ivanhoe Park Congregational Church at Kansas City, Missouri, who is a nephew of the deceased. He spoke on Paul's words to the Corinthians, for there he tells us that it is when our mortal houses are dissolved that we come into the realization of that house which is imperishable. It is then that we know we have a house not made with hands, a building of God, eternal in the heavens. 'So it is at this hour that we come not to the place of despair, but to the place of hope. It is in the midst of death that the still, small voice becomes clarion and bids us believe in the life that does not parish. It is now that we turn to look through windows which are toward Jerusalem. There is, for instance, the window of our reason. Paul was a notable exponent of the faculty of reason. He founded the greatest system of theology which we have inherited and it still bears his name. We know his hope in immortality was not in violation but in agreement with the inspiring faculties of his great mind. He looked out upon the same world we look upon. He invites us to think. Shall we doubt the goodness of God who does not disappoint the bird that answers the call of its nature and flies north and south with the seasons? Or the goodness of God who does not disappoint the flower that answers the call of spring and thrusts its tender sprout through the moist earth? Has God reserved his disappointments for the soul? Our minds and our hearts both answer, a thousand times, no. That yearning for life, a more abundant life, is the prophesy of fulfillment. God will not disappoint us, for when this earthly house dissolves, we have a house not made with hands. Fisk, one of the greatest philosophers of our modern times, takes his stand beside Paul and declares, I believe in immortality as the supreme act of my reason. Any other conclusion violates reason. But Paul would not have us rest solely upon the shortened powers of our reason. There were times when he made no secret of the secondary place it occupied in his experience. Once, you remember, in preaching, he declared that henceforth he had determined to know nothing but Christ, and him crucified, among you. It is good for us to know in this hour that we have the window of Christ--the living Christ, through whom hope becomes surety and joy. O think of the power of that living Master who triumphed over death. What life is it that inspires in this hour the most biographies? What life is it that erects the hospitals to perform deeds of mercy among the suffering? What life is it that draws to its side the most wide-spread and loving benevolence? What life is it that commands the deepest devotion on the part of a veritable army, projecting itself with loyalty and love into the darkest places of the earth? What life is it that puts its birthmark upon every newspaper left at your door, and stamps its date upon every legal document that courses through the daily channels of trade? Oh, Thou Christ, standing with sweet and majestic sovereignty over our human hearts, in this hour when sorrow blinds our eyes with tears, we thank Thee for the power of the everlasting life, and for the voice which still speaks with divine assurance: "'I am the resurrection and the life." But finally it is inspiring for us to remember in the midst of our sorrow that it is not mere continuance of life toward which we look. The voice of prophecy gives us more than that. The life toward which we aspire is a glorified life, a life so beautiful that even John who wrote most about heaven, declares that it hath not even appeared what we shall be.'"
[The Mirror, Newell, Iowa]

Contributed by Juli Chaney Jarvis, Buffalo, WY

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