On November 10, 1906, at their home on Dog River, a baby girl was born to William and Emma Daniell. They already had 4 children and at this time were unaware that there would be more to follow...a total of 12 children!! She was so tiny that the doctor gave them no hope that she would survive. Emma had a sister-in-law named Tinie, and this seemed the perfect time to carry on a family name. Tinie Naoma Daniell proved to be a very healthy baby and continued to grow, though she was always very timid. (Her name was actually Tinie Naomi Daniell. When she was a child, there was a girl in her school named Naomi that she didn't like, so she changed the spelling to Naoma)
When Tinie was two years old, her mother thought it was urgent to visit an ailing neighbor and left 5 year old Tillman to watch after her. While her mother was gone, Tinie walked too close to the fireplace where she tripped and fell. The top of the back of her head fell into the hot coals of the fireplace. The burn was so severe that hair never again grew on that spot. She remembered that her mother would part her hair in the middle and comb it down on each side and in the back, revealing the large bald scar for everyone to view. When Tinie was old enough to fix her own hair, she would arrange it so the scar wouldn't be seen.
Tinie loved to play ball and was very athletic in school. She attended Fairplay School during the elementary years, where she walked about 4 miles each way with her brothers and sisters. Her mother would cook enough biscuits and meat at breakfast to make lunches for them all.
Tinie and her sister Audrey boarded with a family in the town of Douglasville and attended Douglasville High School where they graduated in 1926.
Tinie went to college for two years at West Georgia in Carrollton and then began teaching at Beulah School while she lived with her best friend from high school.
It was while she was teaching at Beulah that she inquired about the gentleman who had an auto repair garage across the road from the school. She was told that she would probably date him, because he like to date teachers. Her exact words were "this is one teacher that won't go with him!" It was this gentleman, James Gasaway Stansell, that later proposed and they were married.
Tinie and Gasaway moved to Cobb County and had four children, Marga Nelle, Gloria, Donna and Jimmy (James Gasaway Jr.) Tinie stayed home to raise their children until Gasaway's health became so bad, (he was only 50 years old when he passed away), that she decided to return to teaching at Beaulah. Later she taught at Annette Wynn Elementary in Lithia Springs until she retired.
Tinie was a wonderful cook and everyone in the family enjoyed the sweets that were her specialty!!
Known to everyone in the family as "Mama Tinie".
Sadly, Alzheimer's robbed her of her wonderful memories in her last few years. But, she remained her sweet, happy self right up until the end.
Passing at the age of 96, the tiny baby that was given no chance of survival, outlived all of her siblings.