Albert Everett McDaniel
September 21, 1949 – June 9, 2006 September 21, 1949 – June 9, 2006
There is a rhythm in life that the passage from Ecclesiastes makes clear to us that there is time
for living and a time for dying, a time for laughing and a time for crying. The passages from the
gospel of John speak about the life Jesus offers to people – life – abundant. The passage from
the Book of Revelation lifts our eyes to the horizon – to a new day dawning. John points us to the
future to a day when all the promises of the covenant will be fulfilled. A cross and an empty tomb
declare that our sin is not being counted against us. There is mercy from God – abundant mercy.
Paul declares that there is nothing, nothing that can separate us from the love of God.
Jesus knew of this rhythm in life. His friend Lazarus died. When Jesus saw the tomb of Lazarus
scripture shares with us Jesus’ reaction with the shortest verse in the Bible. John 11:35 – Jesus
wept. Scripture is silent as to whether Jesus was crying out of grief for his friend, or if Jesus is
sharing sympathetic tears for the family and friends gathered around the tomb, or if Jesus’ tears
were tears of joy for the gift that was about to be given Lazarus and it could be all of the above.
And I’m sure if Albert could speak to us now he’d share his opinion. We all know Albert McDaniel
had an opinion about everything and enjoyed sharing that opinion with everyone.
I will miss my Uncle. He was more than an Uncle to Tom and me. He was like an older brother.
He was eight years older than me. He was my playmate as a child. He played pirates with me.
Taking sticks in hand we dueled like Errol Flynn. We sat in front of the TV and enjoyed the Tarzan
movies. As I got older he taught me the strategy game of chess. He gave me my first razor and
showed me how to shave. He was there for me when I needed a listening ear. He was always
ready to strive to bring a smile and a chuckle to me.
You know him. It’s good to share in the celebration of his life with us and to rejoice in the life he
knows shares with his Lord and savior. I have memories from Albert’s daughter Jennifer to share
with you as well as Christa.
Jennifer would like to share these memories with you:
As I attempt to put into words the memories of my father, I discover there are so many
recollections I would like to share and don’t know where to begin. Dad tried to instill good values
in us girls even from a very early age. One of my earliest memories involves quarters and TV.
Every day we would get a certain number of quarters. Each quarter equated to half an hour of TV
viewing. For every show we watched, we would have to give up one of our quarters to the jar on
top of the TV. If I only had two quarters, I would have to decide if I wanted to watch all of Sesame
Street ( a full hour show), or only half of Sesame Street so I would be able to watch Mr. Roger’s
Neighborhood. as well. At the time, I thought the only lesson to be learned was that it costs
money to watch TV. Now that I’m older, I realize I learned much more. I acquired important
decision-making skills at a very early age, learned I can only spend money once, and that there is
much more to life than watching TV. To this day, I am a saver, not a spender of money. One of
Dad’s favorite sayings was “when its gone, its gone”. Therefore, my goal has been to never let it
all be gone.
Although I don’t remember him voicing it, I know it was very important for Dad to provide
for his family. He always told us he refused to spoil us, which was his answer when we
relentlessly pursued the notion of being allowed to have a personal TV in our bedroom. He also
refused to shower us with money. As I look back on my childhood, I see we were a little spoiled,
despite what he said. I was so excited when he said we could buy and move into a new house
that had a pool. It was a lot more money and a lot more work for him, but he knew it would make
us happy. He took me to Disney World so many times I’ve lost count – I think I’ve been at least
four separate occasions with him. He bought a convertible when I was 13 and passed it on to me.
Growing up, I really did have more than I could ask for it.
Some of my fondest memories of our annual family vacation to Ocean City, New Jersey
are the mornings we shared together. We would get up around 5 A.M. to ride our bikes on
boardwalk and watch the sun rise over the ocean. We would bring our bikes from home, Dad’s
with an extra-large seat he had bought specially to provide “cush for his tush” as he used to say.
Most of the boardwalk shops would still be closed so early in the morning. And I can remember
the sounds of he seagulls and of our bikes rattling over the boards. The smell of the salt air filled
our nostrils. When the sun had risen well into the morning sky, we would stop at the small local
bakery and pick up fresh chocolate croissants for us and everyone else back at the house. They
are still one of my favorite breakfast treats.
are the mornings we shared together. We would get up around 5 A.M. to ride our bikes on
boardwalk and watch the sun rise over the ocean. We would bring our bikes from home, Dad’s
with an extra-large seat he had bought specially to provide “cush for his tush” as he used to say.
Most of the boardwalk shops would still be closed so early in the morning. And I can remember
the sounds of he seagulls and of our bikes rattling over the boards. The smell of the salt air filled
our nostrils. When the sun had risen well into the morning sky, we would stop at the small local
bakery and pick up fresh chocolate croissants for us and everyone else back at the house. They
are still one of my favorite breakfast treats.
Another Ocean City memory entails the endless hours spent playing miniature golf. From
before I can remember, my dad taught me how to play. The words “Hello Mr. Club; hello Mr. Ball”
help give me confidence and calm me down after a few bad holes. And, as my husband, Howard
can attest, I definitely provide competition for my opponents.
In high school, Dad taught me how to drive his convertible. He said when I learned he
would let me drive it by myself since I already had my license. That was major motivation for me.
The only problem was it was a manual transmission. He spent four hours one Saturday teaching
me how o drive. We started out on a cul-de-sac and built up to driving around the neighborhood.
He never got impatient with me and never gave up. I remember stalling the car about twenty
times in the same spot, crying and wanting to give up on myself. He believed in me and talked me
through it until I eventually got it. I remember him telling me that one day I may even be better
than him at driving a manual, and me thinking he was out of his mind. He eventually passed the
car onto me, and when it was totaled by a hit-and-run driver, the next car I chose was a stick shift
also. When I was at the dealership choosing the color of car I wanted, I was told by the car
salesman that the only blue model they had was a stick shift. I could tell he assumed since I was
a young woman that I wouldn’t know how to drive it. I owe the satisfaction I felt from telling the
salesman that not only could I drive a stick, but preferred it, to my Dad.
As I look back on my life, I can see that my Dad was continually there trying to instill good
values in me. He cheered me on at soccer games from kindergarten through high school. He
attended my choir concerts, plays, and school functions. He always believed in me and never let
me give up on myself. He told me that his goal was to raise me to be self-sufficient, and through
his actions how he helped me to achieve his goal.
Jennifer
Christa wishes to share with you these memories:
Dear Dad,
When Mom called me home to tell me that she was coming home from work, I knew that
something was not right. By the tone of her voice to the fact that she would not tell me what was
wrong. I knew. Call I what you will: “intuition”, “psychic powers”, or the Holy Spirit, I just knew. I
kept trying to convince myself that maybe you had just fallen down and hurt your knee, but I knew
it was something stronger than that.
When Mom did come home, I was upstairs. Before coming downstairs, I heard Katie
sobbing downstairs and my feeling was confirmed. I felt a tear (pronounce tare) in my heart as I
walked down the stairs. Dad, I tried to stay so strong – as I thought you would want me to, but as
I heard the words come out of Mom’s mouth I started to cry and shake all over.
Daddy-as I used to call you – that was last Friday. Since then, I have thought about all
the happy and crazy things hat have happened between us up until now. I laugh when I
remember exactly how your stinky feet always smelled when you came home from work.
Sometimes, I would sit by them and complain to you about how much they smelled, but really, I
was just glad that you were home. was just glad that you were home.
I was your baby, your “Daddy’s little girl”, your “princess”. You were the one person that
made me feel safe when I was little and I can recall dozens of instances when I just clung to you
to be near.
Daddy, there are so many things that I want to tell you that I needed to tell you before you
had gone. First, I want to thank you.
Thank you for all the times you made me laugh when I wanted to pout. Thank you for
instilling in me the values and morals that both you and Mom worked so hard to keep. I realize we
may have had our differences from time to time, but I want to thank you for letting me know that
you will support me in anything I feel I’m called to do. Thank you for teaching me to juice the fun
out of life. When we were growing up, it seemed that there was no wish too far out of reach.
Every desire we had – no amount of money would keep us sway. It seems like the United States
is a map dotted with thousands of memories which I will never forget.
Second, I want you to know Daddy, know that you will be missed. Not only every day, but
on those special occasions as well, birthdays, holidays, and trips to the zoo will never be the
same.
But to me, Daddy I will miss you so much next year when I walk down that aisle by myself to get
married. The most comforting words of you telling me how beautiful I look before that long trek
will now be in my heart instead of on your lips. My heart tears (pronounced tares) more as I can
picture that great big smile on your face as you would’ve held my arm, cracking jokes as we step
to the processional to make me calm. And down the road, know that you will not be forgotten as
your grandchildren are born for they will hear many stories about the infamous “Top-Top”.
Finally, Daddy, know that I love you. I love you for what you were and what you were not;
when you made me laugh and for when you made me cry. I know that I cannot change anything
about our relationship while you were with us on Earth. But, as you look down from Heaven upon
me, I pray that you are proud of me. For there are few people here on Earth I need their respect,
but to have your respect, Daddy, would mean the world to me.
I will always love and cherish you.
Your Daddys’ Little Girl,
Christa
Katie shares this with you:
When I was a little girl, everyone would call me Daddy’s little girl. I guess I was in a way. I
always tried to show my affection towards him, going up to him and hugging him, telling him that I
loved him, until he told me that that just wasn’t the way he was, and I respected him for that. I
always knew that he loved me even though he would never actually say it, but I knew. The way
he helped me out when I was in trouble, the way he would try and laugh or try to make us laugh
in bad situations, the trips and adventures that we went on, and how could I forget the trips to the
zoo, I knew that was all out of love.
I remember there were plenty of times that I needed help, especially with homework.
School just wasn’t my thing, even though I was trying so hard, and wanted to get good grades as
much as possible, there was just no way that that would happen, I wanted to make him proud of
me as much as possible, but no matter what, I just wouldn’t be able to make the grade. I
remember when I was in eighth grade and brought home my report card of B’s, C’s and D’s, and
my father was just so upset that he basically felt that he should give up on me and said, “Maybe
you won’t go to college; maybe we’ll just buy you a farm and you’ll be a farmer for the rest of your
life, and take care of your ma and me.” I knew that he was just joking about that, especially since
you need a degree in agriculture for it, and that he just wanted me to do better in school, but I
was trying my hardest and that there was just no way. I knew he did that out of love.
you won’t go to college; maybe we’ll just buy you a farm and you’ll be a farmer for the rest of your
life, and take care of your ma and me.” I knew that he was just joking about that, especially since
you need a degree in agriculture for it, and that he just wanted me to do better in school, but I
was trying my hardest and that there was just no way. I knew he did that out of love.
There was one time I was in trouble in college. I had put in my money to do this Kung Fu
tournament in London, Ky., but after doing so, I found out that nobody in my Kung fu class was
going to attend, and I didn’t have a ride at that time, since I still hadn’t gotten my license let alone
a car. So I called him up, and asked if he would take me, and of course he said, “yes”, but before
doing so since I had only said London, he asked, “London, you want me to go all the way to
London, just for a day so you can do some Kung Fu tournament?”, but then I told him that it was
Kentucky instead of England. Friday night he drove down to Morehead State University to pick
me up, and stayed in a hotel that night since he didn’t want to get in trouble for staying at the
dorm, and the next day we drove the hour to hour and half to London, and he was so proud of me
he was video taping me while I was competing in my two events of form and sparring. At the end
he was really proud when I got a second place trophy in my intermediate division of sparring. He
was just so proud, and that there was just some way that he made me even happier than what I
already was.
Speaking of times to make people happy, there were just some times that we needed to
laugh, but those sometimes that made us worry as well. I remember the time of April 1999, there
was a tornado coming through our city, and my mom was so frantic that she was trying to get my
little sister and myself down to the basement for safety. She was also trying to get him down
there as well, but he was just tired, and knew that no matter where exactly the cyclone was going
to hit that the house was built strong enough that it wasn’t going to go anywhere. So when my
mom told him to go down to the basement, he just said, ‘If the storm hits us, I’m ready to go over
the rainbow.” We ere all worried about him wondering whether or not the tornado really was going
to pick up the house and take it and him somewhere else, but that was his way to tell us, not to
worry, nothing is going to happen.
There were several trips that we went on together; the trips to Philly to see my
grandparents and going to Ocean City, almost every year, coming down to Florida to see Aunt
Beryl and Uncle Frank along with going to Disney World, Pompano Beach, Washington, D.C., but
his favorite place that he went to was Hawaii. We had so many memories there. We went island
hopping the whole trip we were there, exploring a little bit of each of the five islands that we went
to: Honolulu, Maui, The Big Island, Oahu and Hawaii. His favorite island was Maui, with “Bud the
Bird Man” and “The Road to Hannah”, and he loved watching the dolphins jumping through the
water Christmas. When we first got there, I remember that we were trying to find our hotel, and
that when mom was looking through the strip of hotels my dad said, “Well, it better not be that
pink hotel!” My mom would question, “why?” The he said, “No, no, no, I don’t want to stay there,
that’s a wuss hotel! No….!” The day we went down “the road to Hannah”, my parents didn’t know
whether or not to take a guided tour or not since this was what they did shortly after they were
married, but then found this gas station that actually had something for a self-guided tour with a
tape that told things about “the road to Hannah”, and pay a deposit on a cooler that you of course
had to take back when you were done. The tour was nice and gorgeous as all get out. We drove
to the very end, and went in some of the pools, but on the way back to the gas station, my dad
made a bet with everyone. He bet each and everyone twenty bucks, except for my mom who only
bet ten, that he would be able to get back to the gas station within half an hour. He drove like
crazy, but still lost the bet and seventy bucks! I also remember on the way back my mom would
ask, “What side is the ocean on?”, since she was navigating. My father answered, what do you
mean? We’re on an island. There’s water all around us!” I just couldn’t forget that! Either the next
day or two days after that, still on Maui, Dad met his favorite stranger on Earth, “Bud the Bird
Man”. “Bud” was this guy in a safari outfit with five parrots. Dad thought that it would be nice to
get a picture of us with the birds. “Bud” said, “no, that’s how I make money.” So Dad decided to
pay for us to get pictures with the birds. He and “Bud” started talking after showing us a little bit
of his video that he made of the birds and Dad decided to get one of those as well. I don’t think
I’ve never seen him so happy before then. I’ve never seen him so happy before then.
There was this one time tough, that I knew that I felt the closest to him. It was my last trip
I took with him, and that was down here to Florida. I had just graduated from college, and I knew
that Dad had just bought Aunt Beryl and Uncle Frank’s house and was going to close on the deal.
I hadn’t seen them for awhile, and I also thought this might actually be a time that I might actually
get to know the real Al McDaniel, to see him the way that others had seen him, to see if I could
really get close to my own father, and it actually did happen, especially since he lead such a
secretive life. I knew that I wasn’t sure how often I was going to be able to see him any more
since he was moving down here so far away from me. I really wanted to me to see him as him.
The first night he showed me these two movies that he made on DVD, and they were really good.
I knew that he was going into making movies and all, but I didn’t know that he was actually good
at it. The next day or the day after I had a couple of job interviews for ad agencies down in
Tampa, and my father did everything in his power to help me get ready.
He found out that I had forgotten one of my black shoes and found out that I didn’t have a proper
purse or make-up, so instead of telling me to go and buy my own, he gave Aunt Mary money and
asked her to help me pick these things out. I told him that I could pay for them myself but he
wouldn’t have it. I knew that he wanted to feel for once as a father figure and be able to buy me
things to make sure that I was taken care of for my very first couple of real job interviews. One
day during that same trip my Dad and Jim wanted to go crabbing. I wasn’t sure about crabbing
since all you do is put a basket down in the water and see if you catch any crabs. As it turned out
I was the only one who caught anything! Also on this trip I learned something new about my
father, he was a true man. A true man loves to see women with big breasts and tight shorts. So
they told me either we go to “Hooters” or “The Wing House”. Since I really didn’t know what “The
Wing House” was at the time, but of course knew what Hooters was, I chose “The Wing House”. I
found out that it was the same thing, just a different color of uniform, but still women with big
breasts and tight shorts. They told me that Aunt Mary liked going just as much as Dad and Jim.
So when we went, being the feminist that I am towards those types of things, I basically kept to
the window, table and food. Also on that trip we went to this one restaurant with Aunt Beryl and
Uncle Frank and we went there for one thing and one thing only, “rock shrimp”. I never had it
before, but boy were they good! I could see why they were all raving about it before coming
down. The nights of the trip he and I sat on the couch of Aunt Mary’s watching T.V. or movies.
On the last day we went to the Kennedy Space Center, since he asked me if there was
anything that I really wanted to do while I was down here. It was the most fun for both us. I knew
he liked aviation and I liked astronomy. I had taken two astronomy classes while I was in college.
We saw the two IMAX films that they had, played with toy space cars on a mock moon, went
behind this wall to be astronauts, went inside spaceships and saw one of the actual space
shuttles that was suppose to go up in space but had to be rescheduled. The one thing that he
wanted to do was to pretend he was being blown away from the jets of the ships. He wanted me
to take pictures of him as he stood leaning backwards and his arms flailing around just as if he
was really going to be blown away. That was a great time!
I do remember the trips to the Cincinnati Zoo that we went on while my sisters and I were
still young. His favorite thing to do was embarrass us by making animal noises as we watched the
different types of animals. He especially loved imitating the gibbons!
Well, now that he’s gone and I’m here looking through all his boxes, I’m probably learning
more about him now than I ever did when he was alive. As I was going through the boxes I came
across a letter that I wrote to him when I was in first grade. On one side it said, “Dear Daddy I will
miss you. You are the # 1 daddy. I love you. …. Love Katie” and the other side said, “Roses are
red, violets are blue, sugar is sweet, and Dad, I’ll miss you.”
Well, Dad, I do miss you. I guess you are over the rainbow now! Dad, even though you
always said, you wanted your ashes put into a mayonnaise jar and just flush you down the toilet;
Jenny, Christa and I have decided to make your final resting place Hawaii since that was the
happiest that we saw you. You wanted to be with the fishes. I hope you’re happy, and I love you.
I have decided to make your final resting place Hawaii since that was the
happiest that we saw you. You wanted to be with the fishes. I hope you’re happy, and I love you.
Katie
There were several other memories shared of Albert from Herbie Benford, Susan Abendroth and
Jane Elkins.
Yes, there is a rhythm in life that Ecclesiastes speaks of – a time to laugh and a time to cry. We
are doing both as we recall the life of Albert McDaniel. There is a time for living and a time for
dying. We are grateful for the time we shared in life with Albert. We pray for God’s loving arms to
be wrapped around us and sustain us in our grief. We pray for God to lift our sad hearts to the
horizon of a bright future. For one day God will bring together the two parts of his church – the
earthly church and the heavenly church and join them forever and ever. What a joyful day that will
be!