Author and editor Sally Daniels (Dike), former lecturer in Syracuse University’s Department of English in The College of Arts and Sciences, died Oct. 5 at University Hospital. She was 78 years old. A memorial service was held at Hendricks Chapel on Oct. 16.
Mentor, editor and friend to many up and coming writers, Daniels taught English and creative writing at SU for some 30 years and coordinated the Creative Writing Program during the time period when Raymond Carver and Tobias Wolff were in residence. She retired in 1997.
A Syracuse resident, Daniels was active in the Central New York community, volunteering and participating on the boards of the local chapters of the ACLU and Peace Action of Central New York. She was also a tutor, volunteer and board member at The Learning Place, a learning advocacy organization in Syracuse.
Daniels was born in Penn Yan in 1931, graduated from the Penn Yan Academy, attended Oberlin College and Keuka College, and received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English and creative writing from the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor).
Before coming to Syracuse, Daniels spent several years at the University of Minnesota, where she was founder and editor of the Minnesota Review, along with her first husband, Richard Jackson Foster. She published stories in the Quarterly Review of Literature and The Sewanee Review. In 1955, her story “The Far Cry of Frogs” won The Arizona Quarterly’s fiction award. She received a Yaddo residence fellowship and a McKnight Foundation Award for Novel.
Her first novel, “The Inconstant Season,” was published in 1962. It describes growing up in a small Western New York State town and deals with the relationships of children to one another and to their parents. Her second novel, “His First Minute After Noon” was published in 1966.
Survivors include her two children, Lelia Foster Shelton of Cato, N.Y., and Daniel Foster of Los Angeles; granddaughters, Phoebe and Zoe Shelton; son-in-law, Roland Shelton; brothers William C. Daniels (Carolyn Murray) of Rochester, N.Y. and David W. Daniels (Jimmie Sue Evans) of Rochester Hills, Tenn.; and 10 nieces and nephews. Her second husband, Donald A. Dike, and brother, Theodore W. Daniels (Elizabeth Walker) predeceased her.
Donations in Daniels’ memory can be made to The Learning Place, 1443 East Genesee St., Syracuse, N.Y. 13210; NYCLU, 753 James St., Suite 8, Syracuse, N.Y. 13203; and Peace Action of Central New York, 2013 East Genesee St., Syracuse, N.Y. 13210.
