Wallace Newton Daniels

Wallace was born on October 5, 1928, in Fayetteville, North Carolina to the late Thomas Woodley and Emma Johnson Daniels. He came to Elizabethtown in the late 1940s for a temporary work assignment at Fort Knox, where he managed popcorn concessions at the post’s movie theaters and became known as “Wally”.

Wally met the love of his life, Sadie Elizabeth Edlin, through mutual friends in Elizabethtown and he never returned to North Carolina as planned. The two wed on December 23, 1949.

A U.S. Army veteran, Wally served in the quartermaster function in Anchorage, AK during the Korean War. Sadie accompanied him to Anchorage and upon Wally’s discharge, they returned to Elizabethtown.

Wally worked in vending concessions at Fort Knox until he retired in the early 1990s. In retirement, he loved to play golf with his friends and, when he aged out of golf, Wally became a voracious reader. Like Sadie, he was an avid University of Kentucky sports fan and the two of them planned their fall and winter activities around televised UK football and basketball games.

Wally was a devoted husband and father and a charter member of Immanuel Baptist Church. He served faithfully in many roles, including those of deacon and Sunday School teacher, since the church’s founding in 1955. Wally was a man of great integrity and honesty. He was kind and gentle, a role model to many.

Wally was preceded in death by his parents; his wife of 75 years, Sadie; two infant sons, Alan Dale and Roderick; and two brothers, Thomas Woodley Daniels, Jr. and Charles Daniels.

Survivors include one son, Craig Daniels (Anthony Basham) of Lexington; one sister, Pat Daniels Parsons of Cary, North Carolina; and two sisters-in-law, Dorothy Pellman and Becky Edlin, both of Elizabethtown.

Visitation will be on Thursday, June 12, 2025 from 4 to 7 PM and continues after 12 PM Friday at Immanuel Baptist Church.

The funeral is at 1 PM on Friday, June 13th at Immanuel Baptist Church with the Rev. Charles Darland officiating.

Burial follows in Elizabethtown City Cemetery.