GAROLD CANNY

Garold Arthur Canny was born August 31, 1938, in Ottumwa, Iowa, alongside his twin brother Harold, to Arthur and Jean Elizabeth Canny. He grew up in Ottumwa, where he worked as a caddy and played golf during his formative years. He graduated from Ottumwa High School, then went on to Northeast Missouri State University (now named Truman State University) and received a master’s degree in special education from University of Northern Iowa (UNI).
Throughout his teaching career, he extended his love of math and U.S. history to classrooms of special-needs children, teaching special education at Deep River-Millersburg, McKinley Junior High, and Kennedy High School, as well as brief stints in Minnesota and Texas.
Garold met his future wife Barbara Barker on a blind date, through a mutual acquaintance. He and Barbara married on August 13, 1966 and were soon blessed with a son, Brian. They lived in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and later moved to Montgomery, Texas, in the mid-80s, where they lived for nearly 30 years. In Texas, Garold returned to the golf business. He worked at the April Sound Country Club, managing the cart barn and marshalling the course, zipping around the club’s three courses all day in his golf cart to ensure that play went smoothly, and the players stayed on time.
Garold dedicated himself fully to any job he had, from teacher to father to golf course marshal. Getting the job done and doing it right were his two guiding principles in life. In the idle time he allowed for himself, he found joy in collecting U.S. political buttons, matchbooks, and coins. He was always up for a game of cribbage or watching Hoosiers, Witness, The Jerk, or Everybody Loves Raymond. He was also a fan of the Green Bay Packers, the Saint Louis Cardinals, the Houston Rockets, and, of course, any Iowa Hawkeyes team, and he was always ready to expound on his theories about why they would or would not win today.
Garold Arthur Canny passed away in Des Moines, Iowa, on September 8, 2018.
Beyond his family, he held the most affection for the two dogs in his life—first Sam and then Pistol.
He was always ready to share a joke or wry comment at work or home, and he could blend his math skills with his humor—if you asked his age, he was likely to give it in months, days, or seconds, much to the amused chagrin of many doctors and pharmacy technicians. If he gave you a nickname, you had it for life, and he loved to talk about history and particularly about Iowa—it was where he was from and it helped to define the person he was.
Garold is survived by his wife, Barbara, of Des Moines, Iowa; son, Brian (Jennifer) Canny, of Austin, Texas; brother, Harold Canny, of Sioux City, Iowa and his children Diane, David, Jean and Jennifer. He was preceded in death by his parents and sister-in-law, Marjorie “Marge” Canny.
Garold’s services were held at 1:00 p.m. on Monday, September 17, 2018 at the Armstrong Funeral Home in Mount Ayr, Iowa.
Officiating the services was Pastor Bill Armstrong.
Musicians were Nancy Sackett and Carol Ann McCreary.
Hymns were “Amazing Grace”, “You’ll Never Walk Alone” and “In The Garden”.
Garold’s final resting place is at the Benton Cemetery in Benton, Iowa.
Memorials are to Special Olympics, The Food Bank of Iowa and Animal Alliance Rescue of Mount Ayr.