Columbus servant leader, businesswoman Joanne Wommack McDaniel dies at 86
Joanne “Jo” Wommack McDaniel, known for her positive impact and servant leadership in the Columbus community, died over the weekend.
She passed Sunday at home, according to McMullen Funeral Home. She was 86. The cause of death wasn’t available.
A public graveside service will be conducted Sept. 11 at 11:30 a.m. in Parkhill Cemetery. The service will be livestreamed on McMullen’s Facebook page.
McDaniel’s husband, C.E. “Red” McDaniel, was a Columbus Councilor for 38 years before he died in 2014. He was the longest-serving member of Columbus Council.
She was a longtime leader as well. After they were married in 1956, she taught at Edgewood and Gentian elementary schools, then became a homemaker to devote time to their two sons, but she also was a community volunteer.
McDaniel returned to the professional world in 1981, when she was hired as public relations and volunteer services director for HCA Doctors Hospital. She later was marketing and communications director for Hughston Sports Medicine Hospital.
In 1996, she became the owner and president of Mini Maid of Columbus. She sold it in 2006.
Her leadership positions in the community included being president of the Columbus Alliance for Battered Women (now Hope Harbour) and the local Sertoma Club. She also served on the local boards for the Better Business Bureau, Easter Seals, American Heart Association and United Way. She was an active member of First Baptist Church.
“Service was second nature to her,” Columbus Mayor Skip Henderson told the Ledger-Enquirer in a phone interview Thursday. “… She was truly an amazing woman. I thought the world of her, and I think Columbus is certainly better for her being here.”
McDaniel’s influence stretched statewide when she served as coordinator of Public Access to Defibrillation in Columbus and on the Georgia task force to place defibrillators in more public places. Her awards include being named honorary chairwoman of the Georgia Small Business Council and a Gracious Lady of Georgia.
And grace is the one word Henderson suggested that best describes her.
“I probably saw her at some of my worst moments,” he said, “but I don’t think I ever saw her stern or condescending or any way other than supportive.”
As family friends, Henderson considered McDaniel to be his second mother.
“I’m just grateful that she was the kind of woman she was,” he said, “because she impacted everybody who knew her in a positive way.”
Henderson noted McDaniel supported her husband through challenging changes as Columbus merged with Muscogee County to become the state’s first consolidated government in 1971.
“Jo had some steel in her spine,” he said. “You couldn’t confuse her relatively quiet nature with a lack of resolve.”
Her advocacy for public access to defibrillators is a prime example, Henderson said.
“She obtained grants and really spearheaded getting those into areas where they would be able to help save people’s lives if they were in a cardiac emergency,” he said.
This story was originally published September 10, 2020 at 11:06 AM.
