Presidents come and go, however one fixed via 10 presidencies has been Dale Haney, the chief White Home groundskeeper, who as of this month has spent 50 years serving the households — and plenty of of their pets — who’ve known as the mansion house.
Haney’s chief duty is to take care of the huge lawns, colourful flower gardens, a whole lot of bushes, 1000’s of shrubs and burgeoning vegetable backyard on 18 acres of property surrounding the White Home. He additionally picks out the official White Home Christmas tree yearly — and already selected this 12 months’s fir from a Pennsylvania farm.
To honor Haney, Biden and his spouse, Jill, stunned Haney on Monday by planting an elm tree on the south grounds. Biden mentioned guests in future years are “going to be this tree and asking, ’Who’s Dale?”
Haney joked that he “would possibly nonetheless be right here.”
However Haney is probably higher identified to many on the White Home, from employees to Secret Service officers, because the keeper of the president’s pets.
“He’s just like the whisperer,” mentioned Anita McBride, who was a younger aide within the correspondence workplace in Ronald Reagan’s administration when she first met Haney.
Today, Haney is usually seen strolling Commander, President Joe Biden’s German shepherd.
“The very first thing that I take into consideration once I take into consideration Dale is his relationship with the primary household’s animals,” mentioned Gary Walters, who had a prolonged employment file of his personal serving 4 presidents over 20 years as White Home chief usher, managing the residence employees.
Walters recalled the chaos of the 9/11 terrorist assaults in 2001 and the evacuation of the White Home whereas President George W. Bush was in Florida. Walters and a few of his employees had stayed behind regardless of the evacuation. They have been on the South Garden when Walters rotated “and there was Dale standing with Barney below one arm and Kitty Cat below the opposite.”
“He needed to discover them and was on the lookout for route on what to do with them,” Walters mentioned of Bush’s Scottish terrier and cat. The pets ultimately have been reunited with Laura Bush at a distant location.
White Home horticulturist Dale Haney, proper, holds presidential pet Barney, as guests watch for President George W. Bush and first woman Laura Bush’s arrival on the South Garden (AP Photograph/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
A TWO-YEAR PLAN
Anybody beginning a profession as of late is unlikely to nonetheless have that job a half century later, however Haney’s lengthy employment file matches proper in on the White Home.
He’s a member of the operations employees — the scores of housekeepers, butlers, electricians, carpenters, gardeners and others — who aren’t concerned within the coverage or politics. Their job is to maintain the place operating and maintain the households. Many maintain their jobs for many years.
“It’s a singular position throughout the White Home,” mentioned McBride, who encountered Haney once more when she returned to work for Presidents George H.W. Bush and later, for his son.
Haney had deliberate to work simply two years on the White Home when he began in 1972, throughout Richard Nixon’s presidency. He had a bachelor’s diploma in horticulture and needed to return to high school to proceed his research.
He was interning within the gardens on the Dumbarton Oaks museum in Washington when the White Home known as over on the lookout for somebody who might assist with its grounds care. He interviewed and began work six months later as a gardener with the Nationwide Park Service, which cares for the White Home grounds.
Haney grew to become foreman, then chief horticulturalist, earlier than he was promoted to grounds superintendent in 2008, a place that made him a part of the White Home residence employees. Haney reviews to the chief usher, and supervises a full-time employees of 12 gardeners, upkeep employees, electricians and plumbers.
“Once I accepted the job I agreed to remain for 2 years,” he mentioned in an interview with White Home Historical past Quarterly, a publication of the White Home Historic Affiliation. “However the time has passed by so quick that it actually doesn’t really feel like 50 years.”
He and his group are so busy that “it has been straightforward to neglect that point is passing. No day is ever the identical and every single day brings challenges.”
EYEWITNESS TO HISTORY
Haney, who turns 71 on Nov. 4, has seen gobs of White Home historical past unfold:
Nixon departing the White Home by helicopter after he resigned in 1974. President Jimmy Carter overseeing the signing of a landmark peace treaty between Egypt and Israel in 1979.
The crash of a small aircraft on the grounds in 1994. The evacuation on 9/11. President Barack Obama’s “beer summit” in 2009. President Donald Trump internet hosting parts of the Republican Occasion’s nationwide political conference on the South Garden in 2020.
Fifty years of annual Easter Egg Rolls and quite a few state arrival ceremonies for world leaders, together with three visits by Queen Elizabeth II and three totally different popes. One other state arrival is within the works for France’s president on Dec. 1.
The South Garden will develop into a marriage venue on Nov. 19 for Biden’s granddaughter Naomi.
Dale Haney poses for a photograph on the White Home (Jimmy Carter Presidential Library through AP)
WORKING WITH THE EAST WING
First households usually discover methods to depart a long-lasting imprint on the White Home and generally that includes the grounds.
Most not too long ago, Haney helped Melania Trump add a tennis pavilion to the south grounds and renovate the Rose Backyard.
“His meticulous consideration to element all the time ensures and preserves the great thing about the White Home grounds for a lot of to take pleasure in,” the previous first woman mentioned in an announcement to The Related Press.
Haney additionally helped Michelle Obama create her 1,100-square-foot “ kitchen backyard, ” which continues to sprout an assortment of greens, fruit and herbs. A beehive produces honey.
Laura Bush remembered Haney as “one of the best pal to all of the animals.”
“Our canine Spot, Barney and Beazley adored him,” she mentioned in an announcement to AP. “They cherished him greater than they cherished us.”
Jill Biden introduced Haney’s public service milestone by tweeting a photograph of him along with her, the president and Commander within the Oval Workplace.
Obama and his spouse, Michelle, despatched Haney a letter thanking him for bringing his “ardour” and “experience to the immensely troublesome activity of caring for the White Home grounds.” They added: “We may also always remember how splendidly you cared for Sunny and Bo,” the household’s canine.
“Certainly, you’ve got made and lived historical past,” Invoice and Hillary Clinton and daughter Chelsea mentioned in their very own observe to Haney, additionally shared with AP.
Jim Adams, left, supervisory horticulturist with the Nationwide Park Service, and Dale Haney, proper (Matt Smith/The Specific-Occasions through AP)
GUIDING STAR
Haney was one of many first folks Debra Dunn met after she was put in control of the White Home customer’s workplace after the elder Bush took workplace in 1989.
Easter got here early that 12 months, she mentioned, and just one member of her small employees had expertise planning occasions for 30,000 folks.
However Haney talked her via among the logistics, she mentioned, and launched her to different staffers who might assist, like carpenters and florists.
For Halloween, Dunn recalled fretting a couple of setting and props. Haney informed her about an unlimited pumpkin from a previous celebration that was sitting in a warehouse.
“How would I’ve identified that existed?” she requested in a phone interview from Paris, the place she lives and works. “He was simply my guiding star.”
McBride mentioned that’s why folks love Haney.
“Anyone that’s labored within the White Home has encountered him, whether or not it’s as soon as or 100 instances,” she mentioned. “The mere point out of his identify simply brings a smile to your face as a result of he’s so joyful about his job and pleasant to everybody.”
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