Former DFO captain was a caring, devoted husband
Published Monday September 22nd, 2008
GRAND MANAN - As deep as his love of boats and being on the water ran, Capt. Craig Cheney's love for his late wife Muriel (Lakeman) proved to run even deeper.
"When he said to the preacher, 'For better or worse,' when they got married (on July 13, 1949), he stuck to it," his son, Rev. Bruce Cheney, said in an interview last week.
"Of all the things about my Dad I could appreciate or love or respect him for, the way he looked after my Mom tops the list," he continued. "She had MS (multiple sclerosis) and he was her caregiver, especially during the 13 years from his retirement until her death (in 2002). He was very faithful and devoted to her.
"Anytime she left the house, Dad was with her," added Bruce. "He did the cooking and he stayed home, with her, except when the homemaker was there, to make sure she didn't have a fall."
And in doing so, said Bruce, his father was willing to put aside his own desires - like a duck-hunting trip to Cheney Passage - in order to care for the woman he truly loved.
Cheney, who remained in the North Head home he bought in 1954 until suffering a massive stroke in November 2006, died last Monday at the Passamaquoddy Lodge in St. Andrews. He was 82.
He had joined the Department of Fisheries and Oceans in 1964 as captain of the fisheries patrol Cumella, retiring in 1989.
He was an avid hunter, gardener, cook and enjoyed his backyard "smokehouse" made from an old refrigerator he had found in a dump. From it, his family enjoyed such delicacies as salmon, haddock, bacon and pork chops.
He was a devout Anglican, serving as warden and on the vestry of the Church of Ascension in North Head, and was a member of Mananook Lodge No. 38, F&AM.
Born on Oct. 18, 1925, at White Head Island, he was a son of the late Almon and Maggie (Titus) Cheney.
His survivors include one daughter, Martha Cheney of Saint John; three sons, Kirk of North Head, Lt.-Cmdr. Jason Cheney of Fall River, N.S., and Bruce; one sister, Madeline Gibson of Fredericton; one brother, Beverley Cheney of Red Lake, Ont.; 10 grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren.
Besides his wife, he was predeceased by one son, Beverley, killed at the tender age of three when a dory fell on him.
Cheney was just seven when his family relocated to Grand Harbour.
He grew up with the sea in his blood, sailing as boy with his father on the three-masted schooner Alta C, which transported freight and coal to and from Bay of Fundy ports and, on occasion, even Boston.
He tried his hand at fishing for swordfish in Nova Scotia before, as a young man, teaming up with Rolfe Cronk to run a freight service on the Snow Maiden. Later, they bought the Pride of Fundy, a re-named herring carrier which, as the Lucille B, had been involved in a fatal accident.
At one time, they were responsible for transporting most of the goods sold in island stores.
Cheney eventually bought out his business partner, but with drive-on, drive-off ferry service coming to the island in 1965, he wisely chose to apply for Specky Forsythe's old job as the captain of the Cumella.
"I don't think he enjoyed taking people to court or catching people doing what was wrong," said Bruce, who pastored for 28 years until becoming caretaker of Beulah Camp, the Wesleyan campground at Browns Flat. "(But) Dad was fair, Dad was firm and, I think, as a fisheries officer, appreciated more after his retirement (when fisheries officers began wearing guns) than during his active years."
Outgoing, talkative with a booming voice, Cheney is described as being "tender and compassionate under a gruff exterior" by Bruce's wife, Roxie (French).
His big-voiced, "Come over here "¦ " was a bit intimidating to his grandchildren, at first, he recalled.
The only time Bruce was scared of his "disciplinarian" father when growing up, he said, is when he had misbehaved or done something wrong. His memories are mostly good ones, especially those of summers spent on board the Pride of Fundy running freight with the "man's man" who became his early mentor.
"Dad taught me about life - everything from hunting and fishing to rowing a boat, throwing a ball or catching a ball," said Bruce.
"He had a great insight into people," he added." He could read people. He could pick out a phoney. He loved to help people, and did. But, boy, he did not like it when people were lazy. He was hard worker and when people could work and wouldn't, or would go on unemployment, he had no use for that."
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