Jessie Daniel

]essie Mae Daniel, age 96, was the 2nd of 4 children born to the late Henry and Fannie Boyer in Clay, Louisiana on August 7, 1917. She attended the Jackson Parish public schools. She was a member of Pleasant Grove Baptist Church in Ruston, Louisiana where she was baptized. She met William J. Daniel while he was attending Grambling College and they were married in 1938. To this union seven children were born.

She and her husband, an itinerant AME Elder moved to Paris, Il, Wilberforce, OH, Toronto, Ontario Canada, Ypsilanti, MI and finally to Detroit, MI. She was an elegant first lady at all of the churches her husband pastored. She continued her membership at New St. James AME Church in Detroit from which he retired. In recent years she became a member of Oak Grove AME Church.

She demonstrated her love for the Lord by organizing missionary societies, hosting prayer breakfasts and directing Vacation Bible Schools. She especially enjoyed teaching and mothering young people. She worked in the Oak Grove AME Day Care Center where children respected and admired her for the love, care and patience she showed. She gave unselfishly of her time to guide them in the right direction.

Mrs. Daniel held leadership positions in the Women’s Missionary Society, Abatenjwa League of Ministers’ Wives, AME Ministers’ Wives Organization and Ypsilanti’s Palm Leaf Club. She was a delegate to a number of national conferences including World Day of Prayer, connectional, district and local AME Annual and General Conferences & Missionary Quadrennial Conventions. Mrs. Daniel travelled extensively representing the AME Church to such places as Bermuda, Barbados, Mexico and throughout the United States of America. She continued working in the church for many years as long as her health allowed.
She enjoyed entertaining, embroidering and quilting and had a passion for plants and gardening. Some would say she had a green thumb and was able to identify any plant that she saw.

She passed away peacefully on February 18, 2014 with all of her children at her side. Her husband, William J. Daniel, her eldest son, William B. Daniel and her only brother, Norman Boyer preceded her in death. She leaves to cherish her memory, her children, Jeanette Willis of Ann Arbor, MI; Bernadine Wilson of Detroit, MI; Juanita (Harold) Ellerson of Farmington Hills, MI; James (Joyce) Daniel of Detroit, MI; Norma (Thomas) Jones of Arlington, TX; and Eric (Valerie) Daniel of Detroit, MI. 1 daughter‐in‐law, Cheryl Daniel of Oak Park, MI; 2 sisters, Bertha Johnson of Ruston, LA; and Johnnie Bell Bradford of Grambling, LA; 18 grandchildren; 30 great‐grandchildren; 5 great‐great grandchildren; 3 nieces; a long‐time friend, Ella Louise Clarington of Redford, MI and a host of other relatives and friends.

I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course. I have kept the faith. ~2 Timothy 4:7