Posted by Marvin Moss on June 8, 2016:

William Stokes McDaniel A Tribute My name is Marvin Moss.* It was my great good fortune to meet Bill McDaniel when both of us entered West Point in 1955. He was already very different from many of our classmates in that he was a bit older than some of us after having had a year at Georgia Tech. It was also a bit unclear, as was true in my case as well, exactly why he wanted to go to the academy. He had an independent spirit which manifested itself in unusual ways. When he skipped mandatory protestant chapel once, he was found out, and our tactical officer came to quiz him on the causes. The officer asked him "Are you not a believer?" and his response, to the consternation of the officer, was "I'm working on that." When we were marching to parade one afternoon in front of thousands of civilian visitors, he heard one of them say "How cute they are" to which he responded in a loud voice "Stick around they feed us at 5pm." In our second year at West Point, we visited various military bases around the country including Fort Benning. While there, Bill invited our company mates to come to Griffin to spend an evening and meet the local folks. You have to imagine the scene. Most of our company mates were Yankee Irish or Italian Catholics, Jews or mainstream protestants. When we arrived in Griffin, we were taken to the Elks Club which was evidently at that time the only pseudo public place where alcohol was served. For us from the north it was as if we had been suddenly immersed in a slightly bizarre chapter of a Faulkner novel. Bill and Martha shared many interests with me including gardens, history and public service. I loved our West Point reunions every five years because they would come and meet me in Washington where I was living at the time, and off we would go. Martha had this wicker basket which was like a magic cornucopia. I would drive starting in mid-town DC and by the time we reached the DC beltway, I had my first martini replete with ice which seemed to appear from nowhere. On the way to our reunions we visited many gardens and historic sites along the way while enjoying each others company and having stimulating and interesting conversations. There were 21 cadets in our Company K-1 graduating in 1959, and only one returned to his home town after completing his mandatory 3 years of military service. That man was Bill McDaniel. That fact says legions about him. He loved Griffin and Spalding County. It was part of his very make up. Far be it for me to make conclusions about Griffin and Spalding County, but I would posit that there have been few people who have contributed more to your community than Bill and Martha McDaniel. Both were people who loved this place and dedicated their lives to making it a better and more beautiful community. Who could ask for anything more? *Footnote: Marvin Moss is a decorated Vietnam veteran and served for over 18 years as Chief-of-Staff to US Senator Paul Sarbanes of Maryland.

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