Hello all T. McD Friends,
I have donated, to EMU,  three of Thelma's Plays from Little Theatre of the Young.  In addition I donated Thelma's adaptation of The Little Women, performed on the mainstage at EMU.  I am looking for her Wind, Rain and Sun Tales (my favorite) original script and also her adaptation of The Wind and The Willows performed on EMU's the main stage.  
It feels good to have her wonderful work in a safe place for future Little Theater of the Young professors.  I hope, beyond hope, that Eastern Michigan University keeps this important department going and provides the necessary funds and people to grow and grow!
Thank you
Jamie McDaniel Hodges

This win is for you Mom!  You were so adamant that right versus wrong will win, caring versus hate will win.  Today thanks to you, Thelma, it is happening!  This is for you and Fred!   You are my role models and are the great people in this world.

Love Jamie, Sarah, Mike, Tina and Sofia

Today would have been Thelma's 97th birthday.  As I think back, my memories of mom keep coming back to me.   For a women born in 1923, she became a very vocal supporter for women's rights during the Equal Rights Amendment movement.  As I look at pictures - current and in the past -  I am so proud of my mom.

Happy Birthday Mom, Grandmother, Great-Grandmother, Thelma!!!!
Your family loves and misses you so much.

Thank you Robin!

As you know I had the honor of having Thelma (mom/gram) live with me for about 5 or six years.  She did have to go to a assisted living facility when I could not leave her home alone any longer.  When COVID-19 hit I was lucky enough to work at home and so I brought mom home to live with me again.  The company I work for for 14 years decided I did not fit in with them any longer so that was so much easier as I had more time to be with mom.  She was my biggest fan and always supported me with encouragement and love.  I miss walking in the house and telling her what I did and getting all the support and "great job" from her.  I will never forgot how lucky I was to have this time with her.  It was hard but now that I look back it was the best thing for both of us.  

I miss you mom, so much.
Love Jamie

My Earliest memory of Gram (Thelma) was when we were living with her and Poppy (Fred) at 210 N Wallace in Ypsilanti. This must have been the late 80's, and she had already had her hips replaced unbeknownst to me at the time.  I just knew Gram as strictly a walker.  My pre-K self running around anywhere that I could always wondered why she would choose to just walk, instead of racing me around the yard.  As I was playing in Gram's backyard, the phone rang from inside the house.  This was of course the days before cell phones or readily accessible wireless landline phones.  Well Gram must have been expecting a very important call because out of the corner of my eye I see a flash! Flying towards the house, leaping up the stairs, and vanishing through the backdoor she went! I had never seen Gram run, or walk briskly for that matter before.  All I knew was that my Grandmother must have been superwoman, conjuring up her powers of super speed!  "Wow!" I thought, with a never ending smile on my face, and a belief from that point on, that my grandmother could do just about anything.

Little did I understand at the time, Gram was indeed a super woman.  A super mom.  A super grandmother. And to countless others, a super friend and mentor.  To me she was a second mother, someone I could always go to for support, and someone that I always knew would greet me with love that cannot be expressed with words alone.

To the most well read, well spoken, and most intelligent person I have ever met...I love you Gram. Always and forever.

Your favorite (and only) grandson,
Michael

Taken from archives from EMU Theatre for the Young

Mom and dad loved to camp.  Dad would cook and mom would clean-up (we had to help of course).  As a family we would go to the many Michigan State Parks.  Favorites were McLain, Silver Lake, Van Riper, and Harrisburg.  Outside of Michigan I have found memories of camping at Watkins Glen in the Finger Lakes region of New York State, Stratford Fairgrounds in Stratford, Ontario, Elkmont Campground in the Great Smoky Mountains. We started with our wing tent and I will try to find a picture of as it was genuinely nice.  We graduated to a pop-up camper and then mom and dad moved to various trailers along the way.  Sue's and my kids were lucky to go camping with mom and dad and this was so special for them.  I want to share a few treasured memories of camping with mom and dad.

Elkmont Campground, Great Smoky Mountains - We were in the wing tent and Elkmont was filled so we were sent to the picnic grounds for one night.  In the middle of the night we woke up to bear sounds and their shadows walking around the tent.  Big shadows!  It was some night I will not forget.  I am sure the bears love this ritual of “scaring the campers” every evening at the picnic grounds.  They were well fed so that was good.  The rest of the trip was wonderful as the Great Smokies is by far the most beautiful place I have ever visited.  We swam in the cold river and Susan broke part of our wing tent.  Dad was not happy.   So beautiful.  

Silver Lake Campground -The last year we used the wing tent was an unusually rainy time.  We were sleeping in puddles as the wing tent had met its match.  Dad had to dig trenches around the tent to keep the water from capsizing us.  It was right after that mom and dad purchased the Starcraft pop-up trailer that provided many more wonderful camping trips. 

Watkins Glen Campground - We all met our favorite chipmunk my dad named Chubby Cheeks.  We were lucky enough to be visited the whole time we were camping.  I wish I had a picture as we still talk about this chipmunk to this day.  According to Susan there was was an Italian family a few sites away who made pasta every night.  We could sneak into the Glen before it opened to the public by cutting through their camp site.  Also much fun swimming at the Olympic size swimming pool.  Mom with her slow but steady front stroke.  We used to laugh as it was soooo slow.  Sue and I could go the length of the pool underwater due to our synchronized swimming training.

I just found out that my mom's best friend, Thelma, died this week in Ann Arbor. I loved her so much. We moved to Ypsilanti, MI when I was a year old, and lived there for five years. Mom and Thelma met at a "Dames" luncheon at the president's home at Eastern Michigan University...The year was 1956. The get-together was for the WIVES of the faculty...define faculty as "men." Mom met Thelma on the porch....where both had gone for a SMOKE! They became instant friends, and as soon as I was toddling, my first best friends were her two daughters, one a year older, and one a year younger than I was. Thelma became a professor of Theatre, and she was, indeed, dramatic. I loved being around her. She had a great laugh, she had an intriguing New York accent, and, of course, she loved me. Thelma and her husband bought our house when we left Ypsi, and they left the wonderful wall-mural my dad had painted in the basement. My parents were never out of touch, and we saw them several times over the years. The year before my mom died, I traveled to London with them and two other friends. I'm tellin' ya, they made daily trips to the liquor store! And the stories they told! At the time, I didn't realize how funny 70+ year-olds could be! So much laughter! I saw her over a year ago, and we had a delightful political discussion--meaning we complained about..you know. She still had her feisty spirit, she still made me laugh, and her love of her family was still very evident. A long life well-lived. She touched my life, and made it better. RIP Thelma McDaniel. She will be in my heart always.

Hi Mom,
What can be said about you besides you are the most wonderful, beautiful, intelligent, empathetic person I was lucky enough to call Mom.  

I know how much you loved us. Always guiding me to be a better person.  Someone that Mike and Sarah loved as much as I did. That was the best gift you could give us was your unconditional love.  You and Dad were always there for us.  Our hearts are hurting so bad as we are missing you every second.  You and Dad were our world and still are alive in our memories.  Tell Dad we love and miss him so much❤️

Your  talents and dedication to your students and work are obvious as you are still loved and admired by all people you touched in your life

We are so proud of you and will always be with you and Dad.

Love you!!!
Jamie

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10213021420075833&set=pcb.10213021423515919&type=3&theaterI go back to the 60s when I was at EMU and Quirk. I don't think I ever saw Thelma without a smile.  She was joyful.  I worked for Ginny Koste while I was a student and came in contact with Thelma a lot. They were such good pals.In later years I was able to visit her in Florida and also see her in NY when I was visiting dear old Jerry Lee. He loved Thelma, too. I even played mother to her daughter in Androcles and The Lion - great show. I was lucky to be present at her birthday two years ago. So many memories. God bless all who love her and enjoyed the gift to know her.
Joyce Cusmano EMU Class of 1968

Hanging on.
On a stony mountain cliff
In a position that won't last, that
Can not be prolonged.
No ability to look up or down,
Backward or forward.
Just stuck.
Waiting. Feeling.
What we call "time" slide by.
Knowing the wearing grasp
Is loosening.
Feeling gravity, my savior,
My killer, beseech 
My muscles to let go.
To be pulled down.
To be released
To oblivion.