Thomas Forrest Cheney,
THOMAS FORREST CHENEY
He is preceded in death by his parents Forrest & Jackie Cheney, and grandchildren Zackery Smith & Nolen Cheney.
Survived by his wife Virginia (Williams) Cheney, children Tammy Cheney (Don Brink) Thomas Cheney Jr. (Leia) Timmy Cheney (Kelly) & Tanya (Cheney) Smith (Butch).
Grandchildren Cassy, Nettie, Robyn, Samantha, Debbie, Anthony, Alex, Kristin, Lexus, Lilly, Thomas III, Andrew & Jon
Great grandson Greyson
Siblings, many nieces & nephews, & friends
Tom grew up mostly in Minnesota and Washington states. He enlisted and served during the Vietnam War. After serving, he returned to Washington state where he met his wife of fifty years. They resided in Washington until 1982. There upon the two and their children moved to Baudette, Minnesota in 1983 where they lived for the last 37 years. He was also a member of the American Legion, and in the past the Moose Lodge and Eagles Clubs. Tom held many jobs before working at Marvin Windows until the 90s. For some decades he was retired, but decided to go out to North Dakota seasonally to work in the oil fields since he was a man that always went and made himself busy.
Tom was a simple man with several interests and hobbies. Hunting, fishing, wood working, and photography were his main hobbies. He was a man with a simple dream of being a farmer with livestock and fields, which he periodically achieved throughout his lifetime. Tom loved card games; just about any strategic game there was he would play and (99%) beat his opponents with the small chance of going easy mode with his grandchildren (rarely). There are many other interests he had: a love of camping, horror movies, scaring his kids and grandkids with Big Foot stories, loved sci-fi such as Star Trek, believing in the paranormal and aliens, and always knew the latest conspiracies. He even tried his hand at homebrew and wine making, panning for gold, and walked life among several of man’s best friends and leaves behind Moose and Willow. He was an artist and craftsman as well, sharing his love of all his passions and his gifts with his children and grandchildren.
As most who knew him will be able to share, he was an absolute genius when it came to being a Big Fish and storytelling, you never knew if those stories were possible or not. The truth was not what you listened for; the truth was what you were pleasantly left wondering about. Tom loved to gamble not only in games, but with life situations, and he took that horse shoe that is shoved up his ass with him–that is for sure. Whatever the complete truth is about what’s after, he knows it well now.
Funeral services for Thomas Cheney of Baudette, MN will be held on Monday, August 31, 2020 at 2:00 PM at the Lake of the Woods County Fairgrounds Pavilion. Military Honors provided by the Baudette Veterans Ceremonial Squad. Interment will be at the Pitt-Riverside Cemetery. Online guest book at: www.helgesonfuneralhome.com
