Obituary Online notes for Dr. James Earl DANIELEY
12/1/2016
Dr. J. Earl Danieley
ELON - Dr. J. Earl Danieley, 92, passed away Tuesday, November 29, 2016 at Edgewood Place.
A native of Alamance County, he was the husband of the late Verona Daniels Danieley and son of the late Henry H. and Grace Mansfield Danieley.
Survivors include his sons, Ned Daniels Danieley and wife Linda of Hillsborough, Mark Samuel Danieley and wife Heidi of Burlington; daughter, Jane Elizabeth Danieley Shutt and husband Mark of Pineville; Grandchildren; Sean Pifer and fiancé Erica , Jason Pifer and wife Linda, Robert Danieley and wife Hope, Sara Danieley, Jonathan Shutt, Daniel Shutt and Michael Shutt; sister; Faye Danieley Conally and husband Tom of Gibsonville.
He was preceded in death by his parents, wife, sister Frances D. Wood and brother Henry Howard Danieley.
Dr. Danieley will lie in state in the Numen Lumen Center, 301 E. Haggard Ave. Elon, Friday from 12 p.m. until 8 p.m.
The family will receive friends there from 5 p.m. until 8 p.m. (There will be parking available in the McMichael lot and a shuttle available from the Elon Community Church parking lot.)
A funeral service for family and church friends will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday in the Elon Community Church by Rev. Randy Orwig, pastor. Interment will follow in Magnolia Cemetery.
A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday in Alumni Gym on the Elon University campus. A reception will follow in the Moseley Center.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Danieley Scholarship Fund or to the Daniels-Danieley Teaching Award; c/o Elon University Office of University Advancement; 2600 Campus Box, Elon, NC 27244.
You may sign the online register book at
www.lowefuneralhome.com.
3, Dr. J. Earl Danieley*********************************************************
Professor plans to teach for 65th year
Still going STRONG
By Mike Wilder Times-News Thursday, May 06, 2010
mwilder@thetimesnews.com
ELON — Earl Danieley’s age hasn’t limited his achievements. Once one of the youngest college presidents in the United States, he’s now one of the oldest people regularly teaching at a university.
Danieley turns 86 this July. He plans to begin his 65th year teaching at the start of Elon University’s 2010-11 academic year.
He graduated from Elon College (the school changed its name to Elon University in 2001) in 1946 and became part of the faculty that year.
He was Elon’s president from 1957 to 1973 and has been president emeritus since 1992.
He taught throughout his years as an administrator.
In recent years, he teaches an introductory chemistry course during the fall and spring semesters and a short course called “History of Elon” during the school’s winter term.
The chemistry course is for non-science majors who need to meet a graduation requirement. Danieley said the class is considered challenging to teach because students wouldn’t take it unless they had to.
“They think the old man must be nuts,” he said, when he tells students on the first day they’re going to have fun.
Elon’s national reputation is underscored by the membership of Danieley’s current chemistry class.
The 24 students are from 15 different states. None are from North Carolina.
Danieley, who attended Elon because it was close enough for him to live at home, is amazed at how Elon’s prestige has grown.
“We were just a little school down the road, unaccredited (and) struggling,” he said. Now, the school is known nationally for reasons as varied as providing study-abroad opportunities for a high percentage of students as well as combining academics with practical experiences designed to lead to jobs for graduates.
STICKING AROUND Elon has brought personal rewards.
When he started teaching in the 1940s, he was close in age to most students, including some who were older. That was a factor in strong relationships with many of them.
As he got older, those relationships were fewer. That’s changed again as Danieley has aged further.
He was touched when one student told him he was a grandfather-figure.
The student had known neither of his grandfathers.
“Who would you rather be for somebody than a granddaddy?” he asked.
Arthur Worthington, a freshman from Maryland, met Danieley the day he moved in last August. Worthington lives in the Danieley Center, a student housing complex named in honor of Danieley and his wife, Verona.
After Danieley came to one of his classes to talk about Elon’s history, Worthington decided to take his chemistry class. He said Danieley wants to get to know students outside of class.
“He invited me to play golf with him,” he said.
There’s probably no way to know for sure how many people in their 80s are still teaching at American colleges and universities. Danieley knows of one professor at Wake Forest University who is “a little older than I am, and he still goes to the lab.”
Danieley has taught a variety of science classes in addition to the Elon history course, public speaking and parliamentary procedure.
“I’m happy teaching,” he said. “I don’t have to have a particular class.”
Sam Roberts / Times-News Earl Danieley, president emeritus and adjunct professor of chemistry at Elon University, teaches a class Tuesday at McMichael Science Building. Danieley has been teaching since the 1940s.