Geneva mourns preservation promoter Jamie Daniel
Longtime Geneva resident Jamie Daniel is being remembered for her business savvy and her love of local history.
Daniel died Tuesday at 95.
"Jamie's generous spirit, admiration for Geneva, and her tireless efforts to enhance and advance our community's promise and reputation was profound," Mayor Kevin Burns said in a news release. He ordered the city flag to be flown at half staff through Monday in her honor.
Daniel moved to Geneva from Mississippi in 1956 and was a stay-at-home mother at first, becoming involved in the League of Women Voters and the school PTA.
She took a job in 1973 as a public information officer for a company planning a large development near Elburn. When the plan fell through, the developer asked her to handle the land sale. It spurred her to obtain her real estate license, and in 1977 she opened Miscella Real Estate.
She sold Miscella in 2005 but continued to work for it as an agent until 2012.
Along the way, she developed a deep love for Geneva and a passion for preserving its heritage.
In 2002, Daniel received the Preservation Partnership Award from the Preservation Partners of the Fox Valley. It was because of her effort that a two-apartment home on West State Street, slated to be torn down, was saved. The house was the work of August and Oscar Wilson, Geneva architects who had studied with Frank Lloyd Wright.
"Hey, I care about Geneva," Daniel said in a 2002 Daily Herald article. "We cannot destroy our heritage. And we must not."
She was on the first board of the Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois.
Daniel was known for seeing value in a variety of types of housing in Geneva, and she more than once persuaded an owner to move a building elsewhere rather than tear it down.
"She sees architectural significance when they don't stand out," said Sharon Jones, a fellow member of Preservation Partners and a friend of Daniel's.
Daniel served on the committee that planned Riverfront Park, which features artifacts from Geneva's past.
She was a member of the chamber of commerce even when she moved a few years ago to the GreenFields retirement home in the Mill Creek subdivision.
The chamber dedicated the conference room in its new visitors center to her in 2013. It bears a bronze wall sculpture.
"The context was her being a pillar of the community and through her quiet generosity, she helped a lot of people get their feet on the ground," artist Larry Johnson said.
"I was overcome by it really," Daniel said. "Where I came from (New Albany, Mississippi), the only time a person had their name in public was when they were born, got married or died."
Daniel was a historian emeritus at the Geneva History Museum.
Instead of a funeral, there will be a memorial gathering at 1 p.m. May 20 at the museum, 113 S. Third St.
Memorial gifts can be made to the museum or to the United Methodist Church of Geneva, 211 Hamilton St.