Joyce (While) and James McCartney
Notes from Kim McCartney with contributions from Bob Leathers
Joyce and James "Jim" McCartney (While Family Collection from Bob Leathers)
Life Story
1938 September 25: James Harvey McCartney was born in Lewistown, Montana, the son of Virginia J. and Glen Lemuel McCartney.
1939 April 15: Joyce While was born in Hanna, Wyoming to John "Jack" and Janet "Jessie" (Tennant) While.
1939: A new Union Pacific Coal Company Store was opened on the Lincoln Highway that ran through the center of town. It contained all the necessities a mining family would need such as school supplies, gifts, tools, clothing and groceries. G. E. Bullock was the first manager.
1940, June 14: The German army entered and occupied Paris, France during World War II.
1940's: Some of the John "Jack" and "Jessie" While children had their pictures taken by a professional photographer who arrived in Hanna with a pony and a cowboy outfit. Joyce is pictured below.
Joyce While (While Family Collection from Bob Leathers)
Joyce McCartney, age 10. (While Family Collection from Bob Leathers)
1940: Joyce While attended school in Hanna.
Joyce and friend ready for Halloween. Bobby and Ron in the background. (While Family Collection from Bob Leathers)
1941: The largest steam locomotive ever built, the Big Boy, went into service for Union Pacific Railroad. It steamed through Hanna many times and could be seen and heard from the While house on Tipperary.
1942: The Union Pacific Coal Company's No. 4A Underground Mine in Hanna started production of coal. The No. 4 Mine in Hanna was abandoned when the 4A Mine started operations.
1945 May 7: The German armed forces officially surrendered. The Hanna Basin boys could now come home.
1945 August 6: The American B-29 bomber, the Enola Gay, dropped the first atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, killing approximately 80,000 people.
1946: The Hanna Gymnasium burned down at Christmas time. The 1946 Hanna Basketball Team was forced to practice in the Finn Hall, which was located near the school, and play most of their home games in Rawlins. In spite of all the difficulties, the Hanna team placed third in the district tournament and fourth in the state tournament.
1947: A new Hanna Gym was built during the school year. The 1947 Hanna Basketball Team was also forced to practice in the Finn Hall and play most of their games at Rawlins. The team won the district tournament in 1947 and placed fourth at the state tournament.
1949: The Blizzard of 1949 was the worst storm in Wyoming history. The storm created nearly intolerable conditions in Hanna.
1950 May 11: Sixty-nine years after Big Nose George was lynched in Rawlins, construction workers, putting a new foundation in for a new building at the corner of East Cedar and Fourth Street, uncovered a whiskey barrel containing the remains of Big Nose George. The location was near the building that belonged to Dr. Maghee.
1950: The Finn Hall was moved from near the old high school to the north end of town near the present-day football field in order to make room for a new Hanna High School.
1953 January 14: The beginning of the end for the Union Pacific Coal Company mining operations in Hanna when about 100 miners were fired.
1954 March: The firing of all the miners in Hanna created difficult times for the miners and their families. Many families became destitute with no job, no income and no place to go. With a large number of miners suddenly unemployed in Hanna, the lack of income to buy food became a critical issue, consequently the Federal Commodity Program was started in Hanna. The program assisted the needy unemployed Hanna miners and their families with food items until other employment could be found. In the beginning the program consisted of beans and potatoes, but later expanded to canned meats, flour, rice and other federal surplus food items as they became available. The program proved to be extremely beneficial and lasted for several years.
1955: The closing of the Hanna 4A Mine in 1954 would mark the first year in the Hanna Basin history there would be no coal production from an underground mine.
1955 April 12: The polio vaccine was determined to be safe. Hanna School Students received the vaccine on the second floor of the block schoolhouse. The second floor was not being used because the High school and Jr. High students had moved to the new school a few years earlier.
1956: Jim McCartney attended Hanna High School and was on the Hanna Miners' Basketball team.
Jim McCartney. High School. (Ancestory.com)
Jim McCartney. Hanna High School Basketball. 1956 (Ancestory.com)
Jim McCartney. Hanna High School Basketball. 1956 (Ancestory.com)
1956: Jim left school and joined the United States Army and was honorable discharged in 1959.
James "Jim" McCartney. US Army (Image from Kim McCartney)
1957 November 9: Joyce While and James Harvey McCartney were married at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Hanna, Wyoming.
1960's: Jim drove a logging truck for Max Case. He hauled logs from the Medicine Bow Forest to the Hanna sawmill, until the Hanna mill closed.
1960: Wyoming’s population was 330,066 people with 14,937 living in Carbon County and 625 living in Hanna.
1962: The South Country - Elk Mountain - was the Garden Spot for Hanna folks. Jim and Joyce liked going there.
1965: The Union Pacific Railroad turned over the water rights and land titles to the town of Hanna.
1968 December 2: William J. McAtee, a Hanna resident, (Vietnam War Casualty, Serial number 54903692. SPECIALIST FOURTH CLASS, COMPANY D, 7th CAVALRY, 2nd BATALION, U.S. ARMY), was killed in action in the Republic of Vietnam [South Vietnam]. He was buried in the Hanna cemetery, in plot 433. He was 20 years old.
1969: Arch Mineral was officially incorporated in Wyoming and moved into the Hanna Basin to mine coal.
1970's: Jim worked for Shellabarger Chevrolet in Casper and LaForge Motors in Rawlins as service and parts manager. In Casper he owned a boat and loved to water ski.
1970 October 3: The controversial 77-mile section of Interstate 80 north of Hanna between Laramie and Wolcott Junction was dedicated and opened for traffic.
1970: New strip mining companies moved into the Hanna Basin. They brought with them powerful methods in removing the topsoil and drilling and blasting the overburden with explosives.
1970: Employment opportunities, between 1954 and 1970, were scarce in the Hanna Basin. Starting in 1970, the Hanna coal mining boom was on and jobs were once again returning and so were the people. According to the United States Census, from 1970 to 2010, the town of Hanna experienced several dramatic swings in population. In 1970, the Hanna population was only 460 people. Over the next ten years from 1970 to 1980, the town grew by 1,828 new people to 2,288 town folks. Over the next ten years, from 1980 to 1990, the town lost over half of its population, a loss of 1,076 individuals, leaving Hanna with 1,076 people. By the year 2000, the population had settled in at 873 people. In 2010, the population remained relatively stable with a population of 841 folks.
1970: The Arch Mineral Corporation, moved into the Hanna to open a surface coal mine. The new mine created new jobs. The town of Hanna struggled to find housing for the new miners.
1975: The Hanna Railroad Overpass was officially opened. Mayor Gordon Roop and former Mayor Shorty Dundas were inside the first vehicle over the bridge, Bob Jackson's Model T Ford.
1979 Thursday April 12: The first issue of the Hanna Herald was printed.
1984 May 27: The Hanna Basin Historical Society dedicated the Miners' Memorial near the Hanna Recreation Center to all the miners who died in the Carbon and Hanna Mines. A similar monument was later placed in the Hanna Cemetery.
Joyce (While) McCartney and James "Jim" McCartney (While Family Collection from Kim McCartney)
1970's: Jim worked for Rosebud Coal Sales as a dragline operator.
1992: Rosebud Coal Sales in Hanna closed coal production and started reclamation work.
1990's: Joyce and Jim lived and managed the Soapstone Grazing Association south of Cheyenne, Wyoming.
1996-2001 about: Joyce worked for the Natrona County School District in Casper at Evansville school.
2001 September 13: Jim had a heart transplant on at University Hospital in Denver CO. He was a 19-year survivor.
2001: Jim and Joyce returned to live in Hanna.
2003: The town of Hanna received more bad news when Arch of Wyoming announced their plans to close production and reclaim their Medicine Bow and Seminoe No. 2 Mines at Hanna in the near future.
2005-2015: Joyce worked for the Town of Hanna at the Hanna Cemetery. She took care of the many graves in the cemetery and did a wonderful job that was appreciated by all. Joyce had many relatives in the cemetery, and she loved visiting with all of them.
2014 October 6: A new Hanna Elementary School opened. It was designed as a community center as well as an academic facility for the Hanna children.
2015: The old Hanna School built in 1950 was torn down and hauled away.
2016 September 1: Joyce and Jim were lifelong members of the St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Hanna. The church was sold to a private entity. All the contents of the church except the church bell were sold with the building, including the wooden cross from the Episcopal Church in Carbon.
2016 March: Massive coal mine layoffs started to occur in Wyoming. The world's largest coal company, Peabody Coal Company and Arch of Wyoming Coal Company laid off up to 450 workers in the Campbell County area alone. The state started a severe downturn in coal production and employment.
2017 June: Jim retired from a maintenance job he held at the Hanna Housing Authority.
(While Family Collection from Bob Leathers for the Hanna Basin Museum Website)
2017 May 18: Joyce passed away in Laramie, Wyoming, at the age of 78 and was buried in the Hanna Cemetery.
2020 September 5: A Hanna Wildfire broke out west of town and seriously threatened the town's existence.
2020 November 13: Jim McCartney passed away in the Casper Mountain Assisted Living Center from COVID-19 and was buried in the Hanna, Cemetery July 24, 2021, next to his wife Joyce (While) McCartney.
Hanna Basin Death and Burial Records
McCartney, James "Jim"
Cemetery: Hanna
Born: Sept. 25, 1938
Died: Nov. 13, 2020
Age: 82 y's, 1 mo., 18 d's
Note: James (Jim) H. McCartney Obituary
Longtime Hanna, Wyoming resident, James (Jim) H. McCartney, age 82, passed away peacefully in his sleep from Covid-19 on November 13, 2020, at the Casper Mountain Rehabilitation and Care Center in Casper, Wyoming, with his daughter and son-in-law, Kim and Ken Shurter, by his side. He was born, James Harvey McCartney, September 25, 1938, to Glenn and Virginia (Farmer) McCartney in Lewistown, MT. Jim attended schools in Wheatland, Laramie, Elk Mountain, Saratoga and Hanna. He joined the United States Army in 1956 and was given an honorable discharge in 1957 as his service was not needed at that time. On November 9, 1957, Jim married Joyce Elaine While, at the Episcopal Church in Hanna and they began their life together. They had three children, James, Rick and Deborah Kim and were involved in their sporting events and activities. Jim started working as a young man hauling logs to the lumber mill even before he was old enough to get a driver's license. He was a service and parts manager for several car dealerships in Rawlins and Casper, WY as well as Grand Junction and Alamosa, CO. With Joyce by his side, he worked for different ranches by Rawlins and Douglas WY. Jim worked as a dragline operator for many years at Rosebud Coal Sales in Hanna. Later on, he went back to his love of ranching and was the manager of Soapstone Grazing Association in southern Wyoming and Northern Colorado until his heart issues caused him to return to Hanna. Jim had a heart transplant on September 13, 2001, at University Hospital in Denver CO. He was a 19-year survivor. After he was able to return to the workforce, he became the maintenance man for the Hanna Housing where he worked until his retirement in June of 2017. In retirement he spent time taking care of his horses and his trusty dog Penny. He traveled some to visit friends and family and flew to Virginia to visit his sister-in-law Edna and her family. He got to go fishing in the ocean and had a wonderful time. Jim was involved in community causes like the Lion’s Club and Jaycees, Hanna Recreation Center and for years was the Hanna Cemetery Board president. Jim enjoyed spending time with his family hunting and camping, riding horses and ranching, and visiting with friends and relatives. He loved to watch his grandchildren in sporting events, dance recitals, drama plays, gymkhanas, ranch rodeos, and all other horseback riding and roping events. Jim was preceded in death by his mother and father of Wellington, Colorado, wife, Joyce, of 59 1/2 years, brother, Don, and sister, Alice, and many close friends and family members. Jim is survived by his brother, Kenneth (Bonnie) McCartney, and a host of nieces and nephews, his children, James G (Aaronda) McCartney, Rick (Lynette) McCartney and Deborah Kim (Ken) Shurter; 10 grandchildren; Jolene (Jeff), Jason, Scott, Jessica, Steven, Kenneth (Stephanie), Ryan (Alyssa), Kristen (Anthony), Nikita, Tyler, and 13 great-grandchildren! Family, friends and others whose lives were touched by Jim, are invited to attend the Grave-side Service at the Hanna Cemetery in Hanna, WY – on Saturday, July 24th at 11:00. A luncheon will follow at the Catholic Church where we can all reminisce, grieve, and of course, swap stories and just chat. (Kim Shurter, July 2001)
More at: Remembering James "Jim" McCartney
Cemetery: Hanna
Born: Sept. 25, 1938
Died: Nov. 13, 2020
Age: 82 y's, 1 mo., 18 d's
Note: James (Jim) H. McCartney Obituary
Longtime Hanna, Wyoming resident, James (Jim) H. McCartney, age 82, passed away peacefully in his sleep from Covid-19 on November 13, 2020, at the Casper Mountain Rehabilitation and Care Center in Casper, Wyoming, with his daughter and son-in-law, Kim and Ken Shurter, by his side. He was born, James Harvey McCartney, September 25, 1938, to Glenn and Virginia (Farmer) McCartney in Lewistown, MT. Jim attended schools in Wheatland, Laramie, Elk Mountain, Saratoga and Hanna. He joined the United States Army in 1956 and was given an honorable discharge in 1957 as his service was not needed at that time. On November 9, 1957, Jim married Joyce Elaine While, at the Episcopal Church in Hanna and they began their life together. They had three children, James, Rick and Deborah Kim and were involved in their sporting events and activities. Jim started working as a young man hauling logs to the lumber mill even before he was old enough to get a driver's license. He was a service and parts manager for several car dealerships in Rawlins and Casper, WY as well as Grand Junction and Alamosa, CO. With Joyce by his side, he worked for different ranches by Rawlins and Douglas WY. Jim worked as a dragline operator for many years at Rosebud Coal Sales in Hanna. Later on, he went back to his love of ranching and was the manager of Soapstone Grazing Association in southern Wyoming and Northern Colorado until his heart issues caused him to return to Hanna. Jim had a heart transplant on September 13, 2001, at University Hospital in Denver CO. He was a 19-year survivor. After he was able to return to the workforce, he became the maintenance man for the Hanna Housing where he worked until his retirement in June of 2017. In retirement he spent time taking care of his horses and his trusty dog Penny. He traveled some to visit friends and family and flew to Virginia to visit his sister-in-law Edna and her family. He got to go fishing in the ocean and had a wonderful time. Jim was involved in community causes like the Lion’s Club and Jaycees, Hanna Recreation Center and for years was the Hanna Cemetery Board president. Jim enjoyed spending time with his family hunting and camping, riding horses and ranching, and visiting with friends and relatives. He loved to watch his grandchildren in sporting events, dance recitals, drama plays, gymkhanas, ranch rodeos, and all other horseback riding and roping events. Jim was preceded in death by his mother and father of Wellington, Colorado, wife, Joyce, of 59 1/2 years, brother, Don, and sister, Alice, and many close friends and family members. Jim is survived by his brother, Kenneth (Bonnie) McCartney, and a host of nieces and nephews, his children, James G (Aaronda) McCartney, Rick (Lynette) McCartney and Deborah Kim (Ken) Shurter; 10 grandchildren; Jolene (Jeff), Jason, Scott, Jessica, Steven, Kenneth (Stephanie), Ryan (Alyssa), Kristen (Anthony), Nikita, Tyler, and 13 great-grandchildren! Family, friends and others whose lives were touched by Jim, are invited to attend the Grave-side Service at the Hanna Cemetery in Hanna, WY – on Saturday, July 24th at 11:00. A luncheon will follow at the Catholic Church where we can all reminisce, grieve, and of course, swap stories and just chat. (Kim Shurter, July 2001)
More at: Remembering James "Jim" McCartney
McCartney, Joyce Elaine
Cemetery: Hanna
Headstone: “ Joyce E. Apr. 15, 1939 - May 18, 2017. Married Nov. 9, 1957”
Plot: Block 4 Lot 8
Born: April 15, 1939
Died: May 18, 2017
Buried: Wednesday, May 24, 2017
Age: 78 y's, 1 mo., 3 d's
Note: Obituary: Joyce E. McCartney, 78 of Hanna, WY passed away May 18, 2017 at the Laramie Care Center. She was born April 15, 1939 in Hanna. A memorial service will be held on Wednesday, May 24, 2017 at 10:00 a.m. at Saint Joseph’s Catholic Church in Hanna. Interment will follow in the Hanna Cemetery. (Hanna Headlight, May 24, 2017)
More at: Remembering Joyce (While) McCartney
Cemetery: Hanna
Headstone: “ Joyce E. Apr. 15, 1939 - May 18, 2017. Married Nov. 9, 1957”
Plot: Block 4 Lot 8
Born: April 15, 1939
Died: May 18, 2017
Buried: Wednesday, May 24, 2017
Age: 78 y's, 1 mo., 3 d's
Note: Obituary: Joyce E. McCartney, 78 of Hanna, WY passed away May 18, 2017 at the Laramie Care Center. She was born April 15, 1939 in Hanna. A memorial service will be held on Wednesday, May 24, 2017 at 10:00 a.m. at Saint Joseph’s Catholic Church in Hanna. Interment will follow in the Hanna Cemetery. (Hanna Headlight, May 24, 2017)
More at: Remembering Joyce (While) McCartney
(Image by Bob Leathers for the Hanna Basin Museum Website)
Roop, McCartney, Lacy Plot (Image by Bob Leathers for the Hanna Basin Museum Website)