Maude A. McDaniel Papers

Elisabeth Aurand McDaniel was born in Wheeling, WV on Jan. 8, 1930 and died Aug. 11, 2019. She was the daughter of Pastor Charles G. Aurand and Maude Fahs Aurand; with older brothers, Pastor Charles W. Aurand, Pastor John M. Aurand and James Aurand. She graduated from Gettysburg College in 1951, and earned a master's in sociology from Gettysburg Lutheran Seminary in 1953. On May 29, 1953, she married Lee A. McDaniel, a Lutheran minister and fellow graduate of the Seminary. She was active in her church ministries, teaching Sunday school, catechism classes, and being active in choirs. A prolific writing, contributed around 500 published book reviews for the Washington Post, Cleveland Plain Dealer, Chicago Tribune, Milwaukee Journal, Book Page, and other publications. She was also a bi-weekly columnist for the Cumberland Times-News beginning in 1979 and was published in the op-ed page of the Washington Post and several feature pages. Two book reviews were cited in the annual compilation, "Contemporary Literary Criticism." She was listed several times in "Who's Who in Media," and she was a member of the National Book Critics Circle from 1980 for about 30 years. She wrote several unpublished novels, and a self-published novel ("Spite the Devil"). Sources consulted: “Maude Elisabeth Aurand McDaniel Obituary.” Cumberland Times News, 24 Aug. 2019, obituaries.times-news.com/obituary/maude-mcdaniel-1076770188.