May 1, 2021
By: Bill Conger
“I’m just a farmer that owns a farm, runs a sawmill, and makes sawdust every day,” professional storyteller Roy Haney says modestly. But the Liberty man, who runs the Haney Family Sawmill, has been featured on stage and television with his talents. Today he’ll be the special guest at the 16th Annual Dot’s Storytelling Day at the DeKalb County Complex from 1 o’clock to 3:30. Sponsored by the Smithville Study Club, this year’s event will operate under the theme “Tales, Tidbits and Tornadoes.”
“It was just normal that on a Friday night we’d go sit on the front porch at my ma and pa’s house-my grandmother and grandfather’s house,” Haney recalls. “It was the normal thing to do. We’d turn off all the lights because you don’t want to draw bugs. You didn’t have to worry about a fire because the doggone yard was bare from all the chickens beating the grass. That was the time that tied our (family) history together. I heard stories from the Civil War as if it were first person. You’ve got to understand. Ma talked to the people that these stories happened to. In my family, as it turned out, there’s always one or two storytellers. By circumstance I became the storyteller. I thought and didn’t really realize until I was an adult that not everybody was told stories one after the other of their family lore.”
Haney says a storyteller isn’t an entertainer, but he says he does entertain.
“One of the stories I’ll probably tell Saturday is of America. America is my fourth great grandmother. America saw the Civil War. My grandmother almost died when she was 3 years old in the Civil War because she found a plumb bob—that thing that goes back and forth on the grandfather clock. As these renegades are stealing it, they left it on the mantle, she grabbed it, ran outside and said, “You got the clock. Come back and get the plumb bob too.” This was life and death. Man ran up on a horse, brought that horse to a stop, stepped off that horse and saluted that young 3-year-old girl, took the plumb bob and rode on. That’s a true story.”
Haney enjoys being playful with his storytelling.
“I’m a little vindictive. I ought to be whooped every once in a while because I love to tell a story and get that one person hooked so bad, so strong, especially on tall tales. Not everything I tell is the truth. Once in a while I’ll have a little fun. When you see that child that there’s nothing in this world except hearing about that story, hearing about that dog run that rabbit, chase that coon, run it up a tree maybe—and you see them tied in, there’s not a better feeling in this world. Then, when it’s a tall tale and they have taken it hook, line, and sinker and the husband (true story) starts elbowing his wife, “Inside joke; inside joke”— because she’s about to cry.”
“That’s one of the things you’ve got to realize. Storytelling is like a seed. If you plant it, and you take care of it right, telling it right, giving it warmth, giving it moisture, giving it nutrients telling that story, that seed grows and that story gets told again. That’s your family becoming larger. There’s nothing more important right now than us taking care of our family. That’s what it’s all about.”
Other storytellers from the community are invited to join the 16th Annual Dot’s Storytelling Day that was started by the late Dot Tittsworth, who loved the art of storytelling. Money raised from today’s event benefits the DeKalb Imagination Library.