LOIS KINDLE PHOTO Retired Marine Corps Major Jim Haney, 74, is shown here at the Sun City Center Veterans Memorial. Since retiring and moving to the community in 2005, he has volunteered his time and efforts to just about every group or effort having to do with veterans, youth leadership and development and the military.

Retired USMC Major Jim Haney is a no-nonsense guy with a heart of gold

By LOIS KINDLE

<strong>Jim Haney’s life has been all about service.

A Sun City Center resident since 2005, he volunteers his time and efforts to just about every group or effort having to do with veterans or the military.

“Jim is a great guy. He’s literally either part of or supporting our military organizations in the community,” said his friend Bill Hodges, the podcaster of Veterans Corner Radio on 96.3 WSCQ FM Radio. “If I have a question about anything related to veterans, I call him. He’s one of my go-to persons, one of my heroes.”

“He’s the heart of everything military-related and patriotic in our community,” said Connie Lesko, of Freedom Plaza’s Retired Officers Corp. “He’s a great resource leader and encourager, a no-nonsense guy with a heart of gold.”

Haney has been a member of the Military Officers Association of America for 25 years and serves as current president of its Sun City Center Chapter. He’s been with the Military Order of World Wars for 12 years and is presently the group’s Florida department commander.

He is also a member of the Leathernecks, a former Community Association club that’s now a group within American Legion Post 246, is a member of the South Hillsborough Chamber of Commerce Military Affairs Committee and has been a registered organ donor since 1964.

“Veterans service and youth development programs are especially important to me,” Haney said.

He actively takes part in MOWW’s Youth Leadership Conference in Tallahassee each year and supports several JORTC programs on behalf of MOWW, MOAA, the American Legion, Vietnam Veterans of America and the Military Family Support Trust.

Beyond that, he’s the American Legion’s Boys State coordinator and MOWW’s scouting coordinator for the Boy Scouts of America Tampa Bay Chapter’s Eagle Scouts, Venture Scouts and Quartermaster Sea Scouts programs. And he attends and speaks at the annual Girl Scouts Gold Award Ceremony.

Haney said his involvement is important to him because, when he was in the military, he saw the benefits that resulted from youth involvement in these programs.

“Young officers come in as better leaders, and the same is true even for those who don’t go into the military,” he said.

Haney’s efforts in the community affect people of all ages.

“He’s actually an asset to all nonprofit groups in Sun City Center,” said Hillsborough County Community Resource Deputy Jeff Merry. “Whenever we need something for events like golf tournaments or toy drives, I can reach out to Jim, and he gets out the troops and find donations and volunteers. I consider him a good friend.”

Haney’s family roots were firmly planted in military service, an influence that influenced his decision to choose a career in the Marine Corps.

Both of his parents were Marines. His father retired after 20 years at the rank of master sergeant, and his mother served as clerk from 1943 to 1945 during World War II. Haney’s only brother went into the Navy.

After high school, Haney attended the Virginia Military Institute, the oldest state-supported military college in the United States, and then joined the USMC Reserve in 1965. He graduated from the institute in 1968 and began a career in the Marines, serving in the Vietnam War as an artillery forward observer from 1969 to 1970.

Two years later, Haney was sent to California to attend the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, where he earned a master’s degree in electrical engineering.

“It gave me another specialty and enabled me to work with defense contractors,” Haney said.

Retired from the military in 1988, he and his wife, Priscilla, (his wife of 51 years) and their two sons moved from his last duty station in Quantico, Va., to St. Petersburg, where he went to work as an engineering program manager for defense contractor Raytheon Technologies. Haney permanently retired from there in 2007.