David Michael Harney was born on 7 March 1935 in Winchester, Massachusetts, one of nine children of the late Edward Francis “Ted” Harney and Mabel Garland, of Arlington. In the late 1950s, David served in the US Army in Korea. He then studied to be a landscape architect and started a successful landscaping business in southern California.
In the 1970s Dave moved to Fort Scott and went into the truck-transport business. While Dave spent years traveling throughout the United States he maintained a home in Fort Scott, Kansas, where he had many close friends that he considered family. He enjoyed his friends, enjoyed life, and always had his many projects to work on.
In 2007 Dave built his dream home in Fort Scott and held a family reunion for his brothers and sisters and their offspring in 2008, including his “favorite nieces”. He received many offers to purchase his dream home and later sold it and moved into a smaller home which he then landscaped beautifully so that it became a showplace. In retirement David continued landscaping which he loved.
His family was important to David, and over the years he amassed a large collection of family photographs from the 1890s to present, as well as family letters, which he organized and digitized in preparation to creating a family book or video. David’s work on this project will be continued by his sister Linda and his niece Susan “Suki” Vierra.
David is survived by his brothers Richard Harney, Oregon; Peter Harney, Washington; and sister Linda (Harney) MacDonald, Wyoming; as well as his many “favorite” nieces and nephews on the East Coast, Gulf Coast, and West Coast.
There was cremation. Private burial will take place at the U. S. National Cemetery in Ft. Scott, Kansas. Arrangements were under the direction of the Cheney Witt Chapel, 201 S. Main, Ft. Scott, Kansas. Words of remembrance may be submitted to the online guestbook at cheneywitt.com.