Mabel McDaniel (Mansfield)'s Obituary
Mabel Louise McDaniel, daughter of Horace and Grace Baugher McDaniel, was born on November 26, 1919, in Jonesboro, Indiana. She departed this life in her Mansfield, Missouri, home on Friday, January 6, 2012, at the age of ninety-two years, one month, and eleven days. She was preceded in death by her parents, and all of her nine brothers and sisters; Ruby Adams, Lloyd McDaniel, Paul McDaniel, Edna Wagoner, Mildred Carter, James McDaniel, Robert McDaniel, Dorothy Hueppelsheuser and Wilma Owens. Mabel is survived by a host of nieces, nephews, and countless friends who loved her so dearly.
Mabel’s childhood home was small for her large family. There were “three rooms and a path.” Her father worked in a factory and her mother took in laundry and washed it by hand. Mabel’s job as a child was to deliver the clean clothes to each home with her little red wagon. She enjoyed learning, loved to read, and excelled in school.
As a young teen, Mabel attended the Wesleyan Church, and gave her heart to Jesus, under the ministry of the Rev. Floyd Titus family. Their young daughter, Barbara, adopted Mabel, and would do anything to sneak away and play with her. That friendship has continued through the years. Following high school graduation, Mabel enrolled in Indiana Wesleyan University and pursued a Bachelor’s degree in Biology with a minor in Bible. However, in 1943, part-way through college, she answered a call to serve her country in WWII, and enlisted in the U.S. Army. Mabel served in Arlington, Virginia, just outside the nation’s Capitol, as an enemy decoder. She was honorably discharged in 1946 and returned to college where she graduated in 1948 .
Mabel enjoyed the Washington D.C. area so much that after college, she returned to Arlington and found employment in the Laboratory of Arlington Hospital, a job she would keep for almost 50 years. She rose to Administrative Assistant in the lab, and her work ethic was impeccable. So impressed was the head pathologist, that upon her retirement, he gave her a brand new Toyota Camry!
Upon moving to Virginia, Mabel met lifelong friends, Jim and Ferne Cooper. She “adopted” their girls, Janice and Jeaneen. Ferne and Mabel have remained the closest of friends all through these years. Many happy hours were spent with the Cooper family at church, vacationing together, traveling, celebrating holidays and birthdays, and a million other fun activities. Janice gave Mabel the nickname, “Beeb,” which she kept with everyone she met. She loved children and never tired of making snow forts and snow men, playing games, working puzzles and doing all sorts of fun things with them. There was never a baby she couldn’t rock to sleep. She also enjoyed photography, raising African violets, bird-watching, hiking parts of the Appalachian Trail, searching out lighthouses, camping, and traveling to most of the fifty states. Twice she visited Alaska.
Mabel’s fingers were never idle. The stitches in her quilts and counted-cross stitch pieces were perect. She could knit anything, and often designed her own patterns. She was also an artist, and enjoyed paintings and chalk drawings. Mabel was a beautiful seamstress and designed the wedding gowns for each of her “girls,” Barbara (Swanson), Janice (Cotrone), and Jeaneen (LaLone.) They were works of art, and each stitch and piece of lace was placed and sewn with utmost love and care. Her three girls gave her seven grand-children. Katie to Barb, Francia, Philip and Joshua, (from Haiti), to Janice, and Jason, Jon and James to Jeaneen. She was their Grandma Beeb.
Mabel took seriously her walk with the Lord, and it was evident in the life she lived. She became a member of Aldersgate Wesleyan Church in Falls Church, Virginia. For over fifty years, she served on the church board, sang alto in the choir, taught second-grade Sunday school, served as church treasurer, taught children in the weekly Kid’s Club, taught Arts and Crafts each summer at church camp, and was a faithful servant of the Lord at every turn of her life. She loved reading God’s Word, and literally wore out several Bibles. She helped support countless missionaries on foreign soil, and shared anything she had with a generosity rarely seen. She lived by God’s precepts, and her life showed the light of Jesus wherever she went.
Janice Cotrone became a Registered Nurse and was called to missionary service in Haiti with the Wesleyan Church. During her years there, Mabel made thirteen trips to that impoverished island nation, helping in the hospital and clinic. How she loved the children! For the past eight years, Mabel has lived with Janice and her family. Mansfield, Missouri has been their home for the past three years.
Words will never adequately describe the void that Mabel leaves behind. So precious was her friendship; so exemplary her love for Jesus and walk with Him, and so great was her heart for others. Her favorite hymn was, “All the Way My Savior Leads Me.” Looking back over the life of a true servant of God, it can truly be said, “This my song thro’ endless ages: Jesus led me all the way.” Well done, good and faithful servant. You have run the race and finished the course. You never lost sight of the goal of Glory. Only God knows how many precious souls are in Heaven today because of Mabel’s influence on their lives. So, until we meet on that Heavenly shore, good-bye Beeb! We will always love you and forever thank you for all you meant to us!
What’s your fondest memory of Mabel?
What’s a lesson you learned from Mabel?
Share a story where Mabel's kindness touched your heart.
Describe a day with Mabel you’ll never forget.
How did Mabel make you smile?