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| LLOYD E. WORNER AWARD RECIPIENT
1992 |
John Donald Haney '33
Donald Haney has always been on of the Colorado College's most enthusiastic
supporters. In fact, the now retired lawyer was once on the cheerleading
squad for the school's football team, in the days when the small 600-student
Colorado College played all the big schools in this Rocky Mountain area
and Dutch Clark was its star football player.
Don enrolled at Colorado College just weeks before the stock market crash
of 1929 that marked the beginning of the Great Depression. since his family
lived in Colorado Springs, he felt lucky to be able to live at home while
going to school. Although his father was a lawyer, young Don was more
interested in music and earned extra money playing in dance bands.
It was while attending Colorado College that Don met his future wife,
the late Gratia Belle Blackman '34. After graduation, when they began
to think seriously about marriage, Don found that due to the Depression
there were few jobs available. So he decided to go to law school at the
University of Colorado an din 1937 began practicing law.
Don served as president of the College's National Alumni Association before
World War II. He resigned when he entered military service, but then returned
to his alumni position in the late 1940s. His law firm handled the College's
legal affairs for many years, frequently in an unpaid capacity.
During this time, Don volunteered to be on a committee that would try
to determine the direction in which Colorado College should head. The
group studied opinions from all around the country and concluded that
most businesses who hired college graduates wanted people with a well-rounded
educational background. Don and his fellow committee members recommended
that Colorado College should continue to be simply the best possible small
liberal arts coed school it could be.
Don and Gratia Belle Haney raised six children, including two sons, who
graduated from Colorado College, John A. Haney '62 and Jeffrey W. Haney
'76. When their youngest child was born developmentally disabled, it became
a catalyst for the couple's work in the founding of the El Paso County
Association for Retarded Citizens, Inc.
During her lifetime, Gratia Belle as well as Don served the College in
many capacities. Known for their successful marriage, the couple was an
important part of every reunion.
Don Haney has said that as far as the development and well-being of Colorado
Springs, he believes Colorado College may be the single most important
thing that ever happened to the city. Similarly, John Donald Haney may
be one of the best things that has happened to Colorado College.
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