Chamber colleagues recall her commitment, enthusiasm
Past and present staff of the Gilmer Chamber are remembering the commitment and enthusiasm displayed by one of their longest-serving volunteers.
Sally Daniels, a retired local business owner and active Gilmer Chamber member since 1986, passed away last week at age 80.
“Sally has been invested in the Gilmer Chamber for almost four decades and, in that time, her dedication to our community has never wavered. The core values of the Gilmer Chamber are integrity, kindness, collaboration and vision. Few who have joined our ranks have ever embodied these values so wholly and effortlessly as Sally Daniels,” read an online message posted by the local chamber.
‘Worked everything tirelessly’
Sally and husband, Bill Daniels, opened one of the county’s first wireless phone providers in 1998. Cellphones were still new when the Industrial Boulevard store started as a Bell South Mobility provider, later changing to Cingular, then AT&T service.
“We were in business for about 16 years. We listened to our customers and tried to help them the best we could. When we started, you almost had to have a bag phone to get a servicer. I think they had one big tower in Ellijay that somewhat sufficed. The signal wasn’t the best, but it gradually got better,” Bill remembered. “The cellphone business has changed so much over the years to what’s now a mega-phone that can do everything. When we started, it was flip phones. At that time, it was just a convenience.”
Originally from California, the Danielses moved here from Norcross in the mid-‘80s and brought Motivation Trends, another leg of their business that specialized in promotional products like personalized T-shirts and accessories, with them. They ran it here in conjunction with the wireless store.
“She and Bill were always on the cutting edge of everything. They opened the cellular service, and that was a very smart move because there wasn’t very much of that here then. They had two businesses in one and always worked everything tirelessly,” said Brenda Davis, the Gilmer Chamber’s executive director from 1988-2006.
“Sally was always coming up with things for the chamber and looking at it from our perspective on what we could do on a good budget. She designed a T-shirt for the Apple Festival one year and was very active with things like that. She and Bill also hired a lot of teenagers and did great with them. She wasn’t afraid to hire teenagers and taught a lot of them the good side of working in a business,” Davis added.
Bill said volunteering and helping people were two things his wife just always enjoyed.
“She was nice to everybody and had the gift of gab,” he said. “She was also involved with the Rotary and Optimist Club and was on a number of different boards through the years. She would volunteer for everything.”
Someone you could always count on
After retiring, Daniels remained heavily involved in chamber activities and was always someone you could always count on to help, noted former Gilmer Chamber President Paige Hutto.
“There are businesses who’ve been members for longer, but I would be hard pressed to name an individual who’d been an active chamber member for as long as Sally had. She served on the board and as an ambassador multiple times,” Hutto said.
“She always volunteered at Apple Festival and loved volunteering at Taste of Ellijay. That was her favorite event and she was always there selling tickets. She was a one-woman welcoming committee. I honestly can’t imagine the chamber without her.”
Daniels’ willingness to tackle new projects made it seem like she “was made of energy,” noted Davis.
“I always appreciated anybody and everybody who (helped the chamber), but Sally was there from the minute she joined and became an integral part of it all. She became active and stayed active,” added Davis. “She didn’t just come to an event, either. You would’ve thought she was paid staff because she was there so much and did so much, both in front and behind the scenes.”
Hutto said Gilmer’s Got It, a shop local campaign the chamber launched amid the nationwide economic slump, was Daniels’ brainchild.
“Sally just loved her community and the local businesses. She always wanted to support them,” Hutto added. “At a time when we were really starting to see more people shopping online, she wanted to do something to remind people that shopping locally means something (because) small, local businesses are the ones who support charities, sports programs and all the things that mean something. She wanted to find a way to remind people of that.”
Daniels’ many years of service led to her receiving the Gilmer Chamber Member of the Year Award for 2018.
“I wish I had 40 more years to serve the chamber because I love you (all),” she said in her acceptance speech, referring to the organization marking its 40th anniversary that same year.
Davis shared a fond memory of her friend and colleague’s commitment to getting things done, even when behind schedule.
“It was on up into the year, and it had turned into warm weather by then. I got a Christmas card in the mail. On the back it said, ‘I did these in December and I know it’s late, but I want everybody to have them,’” Davis remembered.
“Most people would’ve just left them and whoever they were going to would’ve never got them. Sally sent them anyway because she wanted those people to know how she felt about them, even though it was late. She had a heart like that. She never let the opportunity go by her.”
Even after suffering a recent stroke, Daniels continued to stay involved as a chamber ambassador, noted Hutto.
“It slowed her down physically, but she never let it get her down. She stayed determined,” Hutto added.