Thumbnail Sketches:Mom's Story as seen through the eyes of David

Helen Louise Jones Daniels was my mother. She was born in Washington D.C.,the only child of Sandy Evander Jones,and Annie Louise Moore. Their nickname for her was "Poogy". I never found out what "Poogy" meant.I was only told it was between my mom and my grandparents.

Mom attended Dunbar High School in Washington then attended Howard University. She graduated from Bluefield State College in Bluefield West Virginia. She married Dr. Evans Daniels,moved to Hartford Connecticut and had three boys. I was the first,followed by my brothers Evans Howard Daniels III (Howie) then Austin. I was somewhere around 5 years old when my folks divorced. The household I grew up in consisted of my mom,my brothers and my grandmother,who after my parents split moved from Washington to Hartford to assist my mom.

For as long as I could remember,a day with my mom would begin at about 5:30 AM when the radio alarm,always tuned to WTIC 1080 would go off in her room. She'd turn the radio on loud enough,so that my brothers and I could hear it in our room. There would be the voice of Frank Atwood with the Farm Report,followed by Bob Steele with his corny jokes and bad music.Then sometime between 6:30 and 7 ,we'd hear the words "Get up! Get up! Mom was loud! It wouldn't matter if I had awakened and was dressed already,she had to make sure we were awake and ready for school.

I remember her attending a lot of meetings: NAACP,Urban League,Hartford Board of Education meetings,Democratic Party,and of course her beloved Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority. She loved to play the card game Bridge and every so often she'd host a Bridge Party at the house. Before she returned to school,she loved soap operas,especially As the World Turns.
On November 22,1963,I remember running home from school to tell her the news of John F.Kennedy's assassination,because I was certain she was watching As the World Turns and had not heard the news.

She led a busy life,but she would make regular moments for her boys.. weekend forays to Howard Johnson's ,A.C.Petersons or better yet the Chicken Coop across the street from the Hartford Train Station.Treks in the station wagon with WTIC 1080 on the car radio,this time most likely carrying a broadcast of the Metropolitan Opera. Her favorite singers were Marian Anderson and Leontyne Price.

Education was most important to her. Once she wrote a scathing Letter to the Editor criticizing Hartford Mayor William Glynn. The letter prompted a phone call from Mayor Glynn. I answered the phone.Mom picked in up on another extension permitting me to eavesdrop.Mayor Glynn started out by saying something like "I didn't like what you wrote in the paper" and Mom responded by saying "I don't like what you're doing in Hartford" I knew then to hang up before my mom noticed that I was on the line,because from the tone of her voice,I knew it would not be wise to cross her after she hung up from the Mayor.
Even before she returned to school as a teacher,neighborhood children and parents alike knew she felt that school was for learning and no funny business was to be tolerated. At CA Barbour School,our neighborhood school in Hartford's North End,afterschool fights were commonplace,and these afterschool fights would attract a couple classrooms of kids. Kids had to learn over and over again that mom had better not see or hear of a fight about to take place nearby for Mrs Daniels thought nothing of  breaking through the crowd,separating the fighters and bringing them home to their parents.

Our summers would be spent in Washington DC so that my grandparents could spend time together.It would be something to look forward to every year as I knew my mom,knowing that I had a growing interest in history and politics would take me to the Smithsonian and to the Halls of Congress where if we stopped into the office of Connecticut Senator Abraham Ribicoff and if he was in town,he would make a point to say hi to my mom!
The memory of 1964 Democratic Party Platform Committee meetings,where thanks to my mom,I met Dr.Martin Luther King Jr.is forever sketched into my memory.
Mom would also tell us the stories of the Restaurants,Amusement Parks and Businesses in the area that we took for granted going into that she could not growing up due to segregation.

If you wanted to make my mom mad,one way of doing it was by bringing up the name of Richard Nixon.She remembered him taking his daughters out of District of Columbia schools the moment they were desegregated.She'd refer to Nixon as "that man".
The Daniels brothers found another way of making her angry,and that was by the constant bickering and fighting we'd get into.You knew things were serious when,no matter which brother was at the center of trouble,she call out the names of all three of us "DavidHowieAustin!"

Mom loved shopping.When the Daniels brothers were younger,we'd drive her crazy asking if we could leave 5 minutes after arriving at the store and creating various forms of mischief while she was shopping.No doubt she was happy when we became old enough not to need her supervision. Christmas time was special to her.Handel's Messiah on the record player and the live performances by the Hartford Symphony Orchestra. She never stopped talking in terms of Santa Claus and when Howie and myself reached college age and returned home,to see her as happy as she was to see all of us together again,it was clear as to who Santa Claus was.

Mom always strove to give her boys the best and it disappointed her greatly if we didn't take advantage of it. In 7th Grade,helped by a scholarship, Mom sent me to Kingswood School in West Hartford Connecticut,one of the top prep schools in the area,and where upon graduating,in many cases,Ivy League colleges awaited. By sending me to private school,she faced some criticism as she was such an advocate for improving public schools.She felt however,as much as she was advocating,she could not sacrifice our education while waiting for the public schools to improve.
I hated Kingswood..Kids were snobbish and I always had trouble with Math,and after a year,I was kicked out. I was glad not to be returning,but felt real bad for my mom who I could hear crying,when Headmaster Robert Lazear informed her over the phone that I would not be permitted to return.

With the Daniels brothers getting older,and my grandmother expressing her desire to live the last days of her life back in Washington with my grandfather,mom decided to return to school with the aim of obtaining her Masters Degree.. She was part of a program called Teacher Corps. Mom seemed reenergized by the challenges of being in classroom and also by interacting with others in the Teacher Corps Program all of whom were considerably younger than she.The men in the program were draft age,and many of them enrolled as a means of avoiding being sent to Vietnam. Teacher Corps trainees would visit our house regularly and it was them that alerted my mom that water was being substituted for the vodka.(Mom didn't drink..the alcohol in the house was strictly for the teachers)
 I recall them talking about one trainee who would drive from New York to Connecticut for classes,but sometimes miss class to fly out to California. He was an actor but was doing this Teacher Corps gig as a backup in case the acting didn't work out. He did drop out of Teacher Corps because a film he did put him in position to where he knew he could be able to act.The student's name? Dustin Hoffman and the film ? The Graduate.

One would have never guessed Mom was an only child,there were relatives and friends who were like sisters to her. She spent her summers growing up with cousins Rose (Martin) and Marion(Ellerbee) who later settled in Denver Colorado.Jean on my grandmothers side was a favorite.We grew up calling them all Aunts. In Washington,we'd spend time with her high school friends Elizabeth Rowe and her husband Yancey,and back in Connecticut,she was known to spend hours on the phone with her "Sorority Sister" Helen McConnor.

Mom died unexpectedly in 1982 of a diabetic induced heart attack.She was 57. Her granddaughters Rose and Miki never got to meet her. This thumbnail sketch is to let them know in part who their grandmother was.
There are those who see my mom in her grandchildren today..

Happy Mothers Day.