Johnnie Mae McDaniel

Johnnie Mae McDaniel died Thursday, December 1, 2022, at Mountain Care of Snowflake in Snowflake, Arizona of Alzheimer's. She was 96 years old. Born in Oklahoma, Donley County, Texas, her parents were the late O.L. and Pauline (Ray) Drake.

She married Tillman Gilbert McDaniel on June 25, 1940, in Wellton, Arizona. They were married for 47 years when he passed away in 1987. In her early 20s, Johnnie moved to Arizona where she lived the remainder of her life. Her parents taught her at a young age the importance of working hard at making an honest living. For many years, Johnnie worked as a telephone operator for Contel Telephone in the Holbrook and Winslow area. She then worked for Babbitt's Department Store in their "Ready to Wear Department" in Holbrook and later worked for Whipple's Department Store. Blessed with a true entrepreneurial spirit, she went out on her own and opened her own dress shop in Holbrook and appropriately named it Johnnie's Fashions. The final 17 years of her working career were spent as a favorite cashier at El Rancho Mexican Restaurant in Holbrook. She loved people and people loved her!

Johnnie was a woman of great faith! She knew her Lord and loved to serve Him and worship Him. She was a faithful member of Holbrook's First Baptist Church where she loved her church family.

A loving wife to her husband, she, too, was a devoted mother to her children. She knew her way around the kitchen and loved cooking and baking. She always appreciated good visits with others; whether she was doing the visiting or being the visited. She was one to never turn down a good car ride as she loved spending time on the open road to see the beauty throughout the state. This incredible giving woman will be missed a great deal by countless others because, "Truly to know her, was to love her." 

Johnnie Mae is survived by her children: Tillman (Mary) McDaniel, Jr. of Lakeside, AZ, Carolyn Baldwin of Lakeside, AZ, Donna Huff of Harrison, AR, Michele (Greg) Duran of Holbrook, AZ; daughter-in-law, Cindy McDaniel of Sun Valley, AZ; sister-in-law, Janice Grizzle of Bowie, AZ; 21 grandchildren; 27 great-grandchildren with another on the way and many great-great-grandchildren. Along with her parents and husband, Johnnie Mae was preceded in death by her son, Wayne McDaniel; sons-in-law: Larry Baldwin and Joe Huff and by her brother, Henry Grizzle.

The public viewing will be 6:00 P.M. to 8:00 P.M., Tuesday, December 6, 2022, at Owens Livingston Mortuary - Holbrook Chapel, 409 N. First Avenue in Holbrook, Arizona. The funeral service will begin 10:00 A.M., Wednesday, December 7, 2022, at the First Baptist Church of Holbrook, 360 N. First Avenue in Holbrook. The concluding service and interment will immediately follow at the Holbrook Cemetery where she will be laid to rest alongside her forever sweetheart, Tillman.

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