On November 12, 1971, in Richburg, NY, he married the former Carolyn Hodge, who survives.

Dick spent his childhood growing up in Cuba, Clarksville and Friendship. If you ever traveled Route 305 from Clarksville to Portville with him, you know where he went to school - the little school house where he walked barefoot to school, five miles uphill both ways in waist deep snow carrying his sibling’s books and a bear at his heels. Dick was a graduate of the “school of hard knocks” having traded classroom studies for employment.

When Dick was around ten years old, he trained his goat to pull a homemade cart that he made from wheels he found at the old Drake Foundry. He would drive the cart to a farm in Nile where he’d work for a week at a time and then he and his goat would make the trip home with $7.00 that he’d give to “mom and pop” to help make ends meet.

He worked at numerous jobs prior to joining the crew that built the Route 86 “Expressway” bridges in Friendship, just a stone’s throw from his Castle Garden Road home. He was so proud of those bridges and watched from his kitchen window when the County Road 17 bridge was rebuilt a few years ago.

In 1971, Dick was hired by Friendship Central School as a custodian/bus driver. He went on to serve as head custodian until he retired in 1992. The boiler room at FCS was his domain and teachers, bus drivers, administrators and kitchen staff would gather around the table in his office at various times of the day and he was always ready to share a story or help someone fix something. He took pride in every corner of the building being clean, the gym floor shining like it was just sealed, the ball fields raked and striped for a game and the parking lots plowed. “Mr. Carney” was a friend to many students that needed someone to teach them a trade or just be a mentor. The friendships he built at FCS continued after his retirement and he enjoyed going to breakfast with his fellow school retirees.

“Retirement” for Dick turned into another job that he loved, caretaker at the Friendship Country Estates. He and Carolyn worked there together for several years making sure the residents were happy and the facility was in perfect condition.

Dick served as Dog Control Officer for the Town of Friendship in the 1980’s and was a member of the Bolivar Independent Order of the Odd Fellows for many years, rising through the ranks to Noble Grand.

When Dick wasn’t working, for an employer that is, he was in his garage fixing something for someone or working on a project of his own. If it could be fixed, he was the one to fix it. It wasn’t uncommon for friends or relatives to call him for help and he was always there to lend a hand. He loved rebuilding tractors and would fix up one after another, just to sell them and then start on a new one.

Like tractors, Dick was always rebuilding a Jeep or a truck. He’d buy one that looked like it was ready for the junk yard and by the time he finished with it, it was running like a top and had fresh paint. He’d drive them for a year to two and then start on a new one. His most unique rebuild was Ole 99, the wood cutting truck that he stripped and rebuilt - right down to the beer keg gas tank. Dick and Ole 99 hauled countless loads of wood back home where everyone helped split and stack it. According to Dick, “summers were for wood cutting.”

There wasn’t a hunting season that he didn’t enjoy. He was always ready to run the ridges with a coon dog, chase down a rabbit with a beagle or flush a pheasant with a lab or German Shorthaired Pointer. In the spring he loved taking his favorite box call up on the Steenrod Road to “put the birds to roost”. He and brother Art would spend hours recalling their hunting excursions with each other and plotting how they’d keep the longbeards from those hens. He and Pete would venture up the hill behind her house to hunt turkeys, but they’d get to laughing over something and the turkeys would go in the opposite direction. Deer seasons rarely came and went without a deer or two crossing his sites. If you asked him what his favorite hunt was, he’d tell you being beside Saralyn when she shot her deer in 2019. His .222 reduced the woodchuck population at Sunny Hill back in the 80’s when they camped in the summers and the field behind their house. If it had a season, he was hunting it.

Maintaining the boilers at Friendship School sparked his fascination with heating systems. He built a Hahsa before outdoor boilers were popular and would explain how it worked to anyone that asked what he was building. When wood heat lost its appeal, he was one of the first in the county to install solar panels for “free heat”. On a sunny day, they still warm the house. That backup heat source came in handy when the Hahsa was replaced with an oil boiler which would act up now and then - especially when he’d had one Manhattan too many and couldn’t find the wrench in his hand.

Part of his fascination with heating systems was making sure the house was warm in the winter so he and Carolyn could spend the weekends on their snowmobiles. He would get a group together - often by rounding everyone up over the CB radio, including Art & Marge, Pete & Chuck, Harry, Mush, Barb & Charlie, Linda & Cheryl, Carl & Jim Schneider and Gayle Bartas and he’d blaze the trail to the Penthouse, the Shoot and any other trail that had a drift to play on or enough snow to keep the skis from wearing thin. He and Carolyn enjoyed their Ski-Doos and when old enough, he got one running for Lisa. Winter weekends were always better when there was snow in the forecast, the sleds were gassed up and ready to go. He was a founding board member of the Driftbusters snowmobile club and remained an active member until he was no longer able to ride.

Dick was never idle. When his health started to decline and he couldn’t be as active as he liked, he had “his girl”, Saralyn, to keep him company. She was born just in time to enjoy being the only grandchild in the house and he quickly let everyone know that she was special. He and Carolyn enjoyed watching her grow up from right after her birth and Lisa went back to work until she was old enough to be home alone. Breakfast with Grandpa and Grandma was hardly missed and he looked forward to seeing her walk across the street to visit.

In the last five years or so, getting around got harder for Dick and he’d spend his days working on a puzzle, watching the birds at the feeders and routing for the Buffalo Bills on Sunday. He’d fire up a garden tractor (that he’d tinker on to keep running) and ride around the yard or across the street to Lisa’s to see what they weren’t doing just quite right. The evenings would end in a game or two of dominos and he might let Carolyn win one or two, just to keep her happy, and then enjoy whatever cowboy movie happened to be on the TV.

The days became very long and Dick would look forward to visits with his nephew, Tom Carlin, niece Nancy’s husband, Dave Sortore, and the frequent phone calls from his nephews, Burt Young, Ward Jordan, John Carney, and Dean Carney. Talking to them kept him connected to the siblings he missed so much and he couldn’t wait to be reunited with them. Art, Harry, Pete, Sarah, Al, Julia, Leona and his Mom and Pop would visit him in his dreams and he’d tell everyone how they would check on him and let him know they were waiting. Those dreams and his longing to be reunited with his family make his passing a reason to celebrate and remember the stories he shared about growing up as the youngest of the Carney children. His granddaughter, Paula (Matt Whitaker) of Texas gave him a very special gift for Father’s Day in 2022, when she arranged for Barbie to come home. It was a surprise that brought him much joy and cherished memories.

When Dick and Carolyn married in 1971, little did they know that their blended family would grow by one more in 1974 when Lisa was born and became the youngest of their children. Together, they raised Lisa (David) Szucs from “across the street”, Jeffrey Ward of Belfast, Lori (Samuel Clarke) of Wellsville, Brian Ward of Friendship and the older children already on their own, Barbara “Barbie” Robertson of Texas, Candyce (Leonard) Hodge of Friendship, Richard (Theresa) Carney of Colorado, and Rob (Georgeanne) Carney of Cuba. Dick was grandpa to eleven grandchildren, Kelli, Jason, Teresa, Christine, Paula, Justin, Jon, Jean, Ashley, Marissa and his girl, Saralyn, and several great grandchildren. He was “Uncle Dick” to 50 nieces and nephews and their children as they grew up with Lisa.

In additional to his parents, Dick was predeceased by grandchildren Teresa, Christine and Jason, and his siblings Mary Long, Lovina Balch Merrifield, Leona Carlin, Violet Giles, Francis Merrifield, John Carney, Jr., Julia Jordan, Loretta Sisson, Alfred Carney, Harry Carney, Elizabeth “Pete” or “Betty” Young, Sarah Calhoun and Art Carney.

In honoring Dick’s wishes, there will be no visitation or service. A memorial service will be held at a later date and his ashes will be laid to rest in the Maple Grove Cemetery once he’s reunited with Carolyn.

Memorials can be made to the Cuba Driftbusters Snowmobile Club.

Arrangements are under direction of the Mark F. Rinker Funeral Home & Memorial Service, Inc., Cuba.