Rev. Sally Daniel

News Obituary Article

The Rev. Sally Daniel, opened doors

By KAY POWELL

Sally Daniel listened intently to her minister's sermons. If his preaching slighted women, she would write him a note and drop it into the collection plate.

Dissatisfied with the way the United Methodist Church treated women, she tried to talk to church leaders about changing. She was told her opinions didn't count because she had not attended seminary, said her daughter, Debby Daniel-Bryant of Griffin. "She thought, 'Well, I'll show you,' and entered Candler School of Theology."

"This is so typical of Sally. She would not be daunted," said Dr. James Laney, president emeritus of Emory University who has known her 55 years. "That made her very formidable."

The woman who drove the getaway car for friends integrating the DeKalb public library became the champion of those in the church who had no voice. She opened day care centers and food banks while being an advocate for homosexuals and abortion rights.

"She was an ardent feminist before it was mainstream," Dr. Laney said. "She never shied away from a controversy."

The Rev. Sara "Sally" Bryant Veale Daniel, 75, died at her Atlanta residence Sunday of a possible stroke or heart attack, her daughter said. The body was donated to Emory University School of Medicine. The memorial service is 4 p.m. Nov. 17 at Glenn Memorial United Methodist Church.

The Rev. Daniel was 48 when she completed seminary and was assigned to Aldersgate United Methodist Church, which later merged with Grant Park United Methodist.

"She had been a full-time mother for a long time and hated it," her daughter said. "She didn't feel fulfilled. She was very unhappy."

She worked as a model and fashion consultant. She took on causes through the League of Women Voters, Georgia Council on Human Relations and the civil rights movement. While two friends integrated the DeKalb library, "Sally was sitting out in the car in case anyone came to arrest them," said her friend Lynn Kerpel of DeKalb County.

Her involvement with the interracial council cost her husband his job as assistant solicitor for DeKalb County, the Rev. Daniel said in 2004, and her family endured death threats.

"She was very courageous," Dr. Laney said.

She brought her energy and determination to the church, he said. She built the congregation through community outreach programs for children, the hungry and homeless. If the church had a cleanup day, she washed all 200 windows. If she preached about foot washing, she washed worshippers' feet.

"She was a wonderful preacher. Even my Jewish husband thought so," Ms. Kerpel said.

As the neighborhood changed, so did her congregation. "Gays became her flock," her daughter said.

She started an AIDS ministry and in 1986 her church became a reconciling congregation welcoming everyone. Eventually, she was named AIDS ministries coordinator for the church's North Georgia Conference, which Dr. Laney called "an inspired appointment."

In 1991, the Journal-Constitution reported, when word got out that she had performed a covenant service for two women, she was called on the carpet by her bishop and district superintendent.

In 2004, when she received Agnes Scott College's service to community award she said, "I am more proud of being the pastor of a reconciling church than anything I have ever done."

Other survivors include two sons, Troy Emory "Ted" Daniel III of Decatur and Lawrence William Daniel of Atlanta; a brother, William Whiting Beach Veale of Rio de Janeiro; two sisters, Nancy Ahern of New Haven, Conn., and Martha Lamberg-Karlovsky of Melrose, Mass.; and six grandchildren.

© 2006 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution