David Blaney

On Monday February 7, 2022, surrounded by family, a lifelong Bethesda resident David M. Blaney died at his home in St. James City, Florida. Born on October 6, 1945, Dave was 76 years old at his passing. The second son of Dwight Blaney and Jacqueline Pearce Blaney, Dave is preceded in death by his parents and his younger brother, Robert Blaney. He is survived by his loving wife, Jane Ann Giffen Blaney and his elder brother Dennis (Carol) Blaney of Ashville, Ohio. He is also survived by his three daughters: Lisa (Mike) Blaney-Gasaway of St. James City, Florida, Susanne (Alan) Bretz of Bethesda and Michelle Fuller, also of Bethesda. He will be missed by his six grandchildren: Sebastian and Blaney Stewart, Elsa and Ava Bretz, and Mary and Hunter Fuller.

Dave was a 1964 graduate of Union Local High School. Dave and Jane were married on July 9, 1967, following Jane’s graduation from Muskingum University. The couple lived for two years in West Lafayette, Indiana while Dave was finishing his undergraduate degree at Purdue University. Dave graduated from Purdue in 1969 with a Bachelor of Science degree, having majored in plant biology.

Upon returning to Bethesda, Dave taught science and biology at Bridgeport High School for a few years before hiring on with the Ohio Department of Transportation where he stayed for about ten years. He worked hard to garner funding for projects in the Ohio Valley and during his time with ODOT, Dave was proud to have been involved in the planning and preparation for the construction of I-470. He directed the purchase of the rights of way for the Ohio portion of that interstate highway.

Dave left ODOT to work as a timber buyer for Blaney Lumber—formerly in Bethesda—when his father asked him to. He stayed about three years at the family business before he struck out on his own, logging and then buying logs as Triple D Logs out of New Martinsville, West Virginia. Over the course of 30 years, Dave developed clients all over the world to whom he marketed the hardwood logs he purchased throughout the Valley. If you ever sold logs to Dave Blaney, you know he was an honest man.

Interspersed with his logging career, Dave farmed Christmas trees which he sold in local lots and trucked to lots in Columbus and other cities—and not a few of which he gave away.

Dave enjoyed cooking for people, and he was extraordinarily good at it. He also enjoyed fishing for most of his life and he was skilled at that as well. He had an extensive vocabulary of both the elegant and inelegant sort and oftentimes interwove the two with oratory finesse. Employing his sharp sense of humor and rich colorful vocabulary, Dave told some of the funniest stories one might ever hear about the days of his youth and teaching, and logging and fishing and a life well lived.

He loved, cared for, and provided for his family, always.

Dave is to be interred at Ebenezer Cemetery in Bethesda, OH during a graveside service to be held for the family on a date that is yet to be determined.