DALTON, Ga. — For more than 30 years, Clifford Maney worked for the Dalton Fire Department, leading the department as chief for his final 14 years before retiring in 1994. Current Chief Bruce Satterfield said Maney’s influence still is evident today in the way the department is organized and run.

“His impact will be felt for a long, long time,” Satterfield said of Maney, who passed away on Tuesday at Erlanger hospital in Chattanooga at the age of 87. “Everything from the buildings we use today to some of the equipment we still use today, those were all things implemented by Chief Maney.”

Maney is survived by his wife Mary Helen Broome Maney, who he was married to for 68 years. Services will be at 3 p.m. Saturday in the Chapel of Love Funeral Home. The family will receive visitors prior to the service beginning at 11 a.m. The family has asked that donations in memory of Maney be made to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research or to Crown View Baptist Church where the Maneys are members.

Maney began working for the fire department in April of 1964 and was with the department 16 years before becoming chief. Satterfield was a young firefighter when Maney took over the department and can remember transitioning from the old fire station where the Whitfield County courthouse stands now to Station 1, which still houses the administrative offices of the department.

Satterfield said during Maney’s run as chief the department built the stations on Haig Mill Road in 1988 and on Dug Gap Road in 1992. Also, the department saw an increase in newer technology, including a 100-foot ladder truck, which is still used as a reserve response truck today.

“Chief was a very detail-oriented person,” Satterfield said. “He pretty well thought all of the things through and brought them to fruition. Not only did we build those stations, but he did a good job of leading us as a department. (Equipment and training) were a big deal for Clifford and a big deal for the city when we could get that kind of technology. Lots of equipment was bought in his time as chief. We really updated our department.”

Satterfield’s first big promotion came when he was named the city’s fire marshal, which put him directly under Maney’s supervision. He said he learned much about what it takes to run the department from Maney.

“I learned a lot of patience from him,” Satterfield said. “What I learned most, he was always calm and always said, ‘Let’s talk about that for a minute,’ and always listened to what you had to say. I was still a young guy and I didn’t understand the big picture he was talking about and only seeing things from my point of view. His attention to detail and his patience changed my mode of thinking about this job. Those are a couple of things that I really learned and those were important.”

Satterfield said Maney always tried to communicate with staff from his lieutenants all the way down to the rookie firefighter on a truck, and tried to keep the lines of communication flowing both ways. Satterfield called it Maney’s “two-way glass” approach.

“We still preach that,” Satterfield. “We at the top have to listen to those guys on the floor because they have a different perspective … On the same hand, there is another side the guys on the truck don’t get to see. And then you have to think about the public, too, since that is ultimately who we have to answer to.”