Each month we will feature a "Profile in Compassion" from a firewood bank to share inspiring stories of bank leaders, volunteers, or firewood recipients. This is a special Profile In Compassion that features a legend in the firewood bank community who built his life around serving others in need of assistance. Please feel free to suggest the next one!
Our tour around Montana firewood banks in June gave us a better understanding of small town support systems out west. One name that was frequently mentioned was Father Harry Neeley, an Episcopalian priest who founded the Dillon and Sheridan firewood banks. Known to most as just Harry, Neeley had an unforgettable ability to supercharge individuals to help make positive change. Interest in his inspiring ability to unite communities and combat hardship led us to numerous publications, a short video, and heartwarming conversations with his widow Val Neeley, married 67 years, and dear friends Frank Ford and Rick Hartz.
Father Harry Neeley, was a humble man who left his home state of South Dakota to pursue his loudest calling, to help people. He married his wife Val and made homes around the west for school, seminary, and jobs. Everywhere they went they met people, heard stories, and worked to improve the lives of those around them. Val praised Harry’s ability to follow his intuition; he knew when to take chances, wait things out, return to familiar places, and take action with confidence and courage. They raised three children who watched their parents make a good living out of helping others.
He advocated for youth throughout his whole career. As Dean of the Boys at the South Dakota School for the Deaf Harry learned American Sign Language. He was assistant director of McCrossan’s Boys Ranch in Sioux Falls, South Dakota then became a children’s service worker for the Big Horn County welfare department in Wyoming. “He was a big man with a big heart and he took care of things as big as himself,” his wife Val recalled.
Harry’s background in psychology and sociology drew him to social work - the foundation of his community-focused career. He and his young growing family lived below the poverty line while studying for his Master’s in Divinity and working part time jobs to make ends meet. Ordained in the Episcopal church, the generosity of friends and family and Harry’s way of taking care of business got them through his studies and onto a bright future. Harry’s 50 year career as reverend to communities across Nevada, California, Montana, and Wyoming left a ripple of goodness everywhere he went.
Serving the community of Alturas, CA he became Chief of the Alturas Rural Fire Volunteer Department. It was serving on the Alturas City Fire Department that sparked a true love for firefighting and brought him closer to the abundant forests of California. Some say that Alturas is also where Harry’s affair with chainsaws and firewood began; he cut cords of wood to heat the church, fulfilling a lifelong dream and igniting a new found purpose within Harry. “God gave Harry a chainsaw as a sacred tool of ministry,” said one friend of Harry’s. This came to light in future years once he retired from his post with the Episcopal clergy. Val retired soon after and with that chapter closed, and all their grown children off on their own, the couple had time to embark on new adventures. Although Harry would always be a priest and trained fireman, in retirement he took his enthusiasm for fire safety and redirected his energy towards heating safety and security. This is when, in 1994, the Wood Bank Ministry was born.
Harry was always looking to salvage wood to help struggling families heat their homes; any excuse to run a chainsaw! Referring to their operation in the beginning as a “private charity” Harry and Val would drive deep into Beaverhead National Forest and fill their old but reliable green pickup truck with sectioned logs, ready to split. What started out as finding a home for overflow wood evolved into a full time ministry, with regular loads harvested just for community members unable to acquire wood to heat their homes themselves. Harry would run the chainsaw and Val would stack the truck.
A highlight of Harry’s peak firewood harvesting days was when the local Forest Service publicly recognized him as “The Man Most Dedicated to Clearing Out The Beaverhead National Forest By Hand.” As demand increased Harry and Val had to be creative in sourcing wood, Harry arranged for donations of wood from private landowners by offering volunteers to haul away any fallen trees. He made an agreement with a local post and pole company who allowed the bank to salvage unusable wood and eventually received large end pieces and butt ends of logs from a local sawmill; volunteers regularly drove over to pick up whole truck loads.
For years the Neeley’s ran their labor intensive operation and delivered processed firewood to homes around Dillon, Montana. “What happens in the woods, stays in the woods” joked Val, inferring a lifetime of silly memories that originated from their firewood missions. She told us of the scariest memory she had from collecting firewood. They drove into a new area, on a new-to-them dirt road. At the crest of a steep hill Harry stopped the truck and looked down the horrendous route to the creek bottom; without much explanation Harry turned the truck around and drove back the way they came in. It was on their way out that they discovered the truck brakes had gone out and the decision to turn around likely saved their life. Val constantly reiterates how grateful she is to have the guidance and companionship of her late husband for so many years.
Harry’s ability to influence and unite others came naturally. He took hard work seriously and sawing wood was his forte. Through showing and doing he grew an extensive following, this downpour of support from community organizations, the National Episcopal Church, and friends and neighbors was enough to sustain it for good. “God is really taking care of this outfit,” Val stated when asked if she ever imagined the impact that their “private charity” would have over time. The two person team grew to have leadership, a volunteer crew that helped Harry harvest from the Beaverhead National Forest and provided wood across Beaverhead, and Madison counties and even a partnership with youth cadets enrolled in the local Montana Youth Challenge Academy. Over the years several local landowners donated areas of their property for temporary use as a firewood storage lot.
Harry’s belief in community was strong. He was very successful with recruiting men and women to volunteer at the woodlot and men were especially responsive to his leadership. He was always open and willing to listen. A favorite memory of Val’s was witnessing Harry engage with others and involve them in something both social and physical like wood work. Harry would welcome individuals from either the city court or Justice of the Peace’s office who were assigned community service as part of their sentence.
He was described as a man who loved his Lord by loving and serving others. “To work is to pray.” he’d say.
It was through chatting over coffee that Harry first acknowledged that Dillon, MT had a food bank, so why not a wood bank? The seed was planted and brought to life by Harry and today the community values the wood bank and works to keep it a fixture of their small town. In 2008 St. James Episcopal Church formally adopted the woodbank as an official ministry, this provided the wood bank insurance, financial assistance, and access to grants through the state and national church for large expenses. Harry once said “I don’t want this to become so centered around me that it fails when I die.” With a plan in place and collaboration with the Human Service Network, a group that oversaw local social issues, Harry announced his retirement from the Wood Bank Ministry in the spring of 2014. The original wood bank and local consultants created a set of Bylaws and Articles of Incorporation to establish the Beaverhead Community Wood Bank Ministry, the Firewood Bank of the Ruby Valley, and a third wood bank in Eureka, MT in the fall of 2015. Although the baton was officially passed on Harry Neeley was responsible for the proactive communication and succession plan that kept the traction under the firewood bank. Today, Rick Hartz and Frank Ford are the presidents of the partnering firewood banks, Beaverhead Community Firewood Bank Ministry and Firewood Bank of the Ruby Valley. “Harry truly was a man that talked the talk and walked the walk, a man of action and not just words” said Rick Hartz. Harry continued to volunteer with the Beaverhead Community Firewood Bank Ministry until his final days, attributing the woodlot to one of his favorite places to be.
Harry Neeley passed away in 2021 but left behind a legacy. It’s important to acknowledge that Harry Neeley was just one person who cared. The potential that is in all of us to leverage our positions to improve the life of someone else is unlimited. Harry and Val offered genuine support to others and contributed to the creation of three firewood banks, food banks, a used good store, and local park. In Val’s words, “[Firewood banks are] one more way that God shows us how to connect and help.” They showed others how to love thy neighbors by looking after them with real sustainable solutions. In 2024 the town of Dillon, MT dedicated a road to Harry and Val on the south side of the city park that Val played a role in designing. So if you’re in the town of Dillon, MT and are looking for inspiration, take a walk down Neeley Blvd. and dream of a better world.
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