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The way
WE were
Stephanie & Noel Daniels
Camille Anding
The year that Stephanie
Donnell exchanged vows with
Noel Daniels just happened to
be the same year that Noel’s
brother, Dusty, talked him into
joining the car sales business.
Fifty-two years later, on August 24,
they celebrated two anniversaries–
their wedding anniversary and
the beginning of Noel’s career in
the auto business.
In looking back over his career,
they agree it’s been a great ride.
Noel laughs and says, “It’s been
a business that’s provided some
really great trips and a demo!”
Stephanie joined the laughter
saying, “We can truthfully say
we’ve never had to buy a car!”
In looking back over their
lives, they also share childhood
losses. Stephanie’s mom died
when Stephanie was nine, and
her grandmother, Cora Jarmon,
became her second mother.
Noel’s dad died when he was
fourteen, making Noel the new
breadwinner. The oilfields of
Louisiana became his earliest
employer. At the young age of
nineteen, with five years of
experience, he was in charge of
running his own drilling rig in
the summer while attending the
University of Louisiana Monroe
on a football scholarship.
Noel and Stephanie first met
at the skating rink in Farmerville,
Louisiana – Noel’s hometown.
It was near the town of Marion,
Stephanie’s hometown. He was
eighteen, she was sixteen. It was
their good looks that attracted
them physically. Noel was “most
handsome” in his school, and
according to Noel, Stephanie was
the “prettiest” at Marion High.
They dated off and on for five
years before marrying at the First
Baptist Church in Marion. Noel
was twenty-four and already
conditioned to hard, manual
labor. Thirty-six hour shifts
were not uncommon in the oil
drilling business. In his teenage
and college summers, he worked
pipelines throughout several states.
As they began their first year
of marriage, Noel embarked on
a new job in a car dealership.
“We worked eight-to-twelvehour
days, six days a week,” Noel
recalls. His driven work ethic
and expertise in dealing with
people were keys to guiding him
from that first modest dealership
to the familiar Gray-Daniels
dealership that bore his name
and eventually included six
dealerships and over 500
employees.
Stephanie made the perfect
wife, according to Noel when he
shared how she stayed home to
raise their two daughters, Amy
and Allison. Noel credits
10 • DECEMBER 2020