DATE: Saturday, May 10, 1997                TAG: 9705100355

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY CATHERINE KOZAK, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: WANCHESE, N.C.                    LENGTH:  237 lines

ALL 15 CALL HER MOM MAUSE DANIELS CREDITS THE LORD FOR HELPING HER RAISE A LARGE FAMILY.

First came Kenny Lou, born in 1942, followed by Malcolm, William, David, Mikey and Timmy.

Then came the first girl, Faith, and five more boys, Joey, Chris, Mark, Tom Bill and Sam. Then two more girls, Esther and Nan.

And in 1966 came Amy, the last of the 15 children brought into the world by Maude Daniels.

All 11 boys and 4 girls are doing fine on this Mother's Day weekend - and so's their mom.

``I thank the Lord for them,'' says the 74-year-old widow of a Wanchese waterman. ``He's to be praised for what he's done for me.''

Maude Daniels did a lot, too, for her children, particularly back in the days when as many as 10 were living at home.

They say she rarely raised her voice, even on the most stressful of days.

Now, her handsome brick house is quiet. The 4-by-8-foot Formica-covered plywood slab where the family gathered for meals has been replaced by a lace-cloaked dining table. The nine bunks in the upstairs barracks are empty.

The fire siren that served as a dinner bell to call her brood has been retired.

There was no television in the house to pacify them. Birthday parties were given only when they turned 7. Christmas meant church, family gatherings and presents, but there was no Santa Claus.

``I never would have been able to do this if the Lord hadn't helped me,'' Maude Daniels says, reminiscing in her dining room, wind chimes tinkling gently from the porch outside. ``I had a terrible temper before I gave my heart to the Lord. It was a miracle.''

Her strawberry curls, peach skin, modulated drawl and gentle hands show no hints of the strength, courage and endurance it took to rear 11 boys and 4 girls.

She speaks quietly, almost in a whisper, yet she tends to laugh with the charm of a schoolgirl, giggling shyly behind her hand. Her high cheekbones are set off by dimples.

In old photographs she looks as lovely as a Hollywood starlet. She's proud of her children, but she rejects efforts to cite her as a Super-Mother; whatever good she did, whatever strength she had, she insists, was given to her by the Lord.

Modern parents, exhausted by raising two or three childen, might agree that divine intervention surely had a hand in Maude Daniels' mothering.

Malcolm and Maude Daniels shared a good, full life together for 45 years. They courted during their last year in Manteo High School together; they married in 1941 when she was 19. Not quite two years her senior, he was strikingly handsome: dark-haired, strong-jawed. She was petite, her naturally curly hair bright red in her younger years. As one of the founders of Wanchese Fish Co., Malcolm's grit and foresight turned a small fish-packing business into a multimillion-dollar enterprise. Maude, fueled by faith and good health, built the family.

He was the strength, she was the spirit, and together they made a home - and that's all there is to it, Maude Daniels says.

``I don't teach anybody this, that they need to do this. But we felt like that this is what the Lord wanted,'' she says. ``So I can say that I've had as many children as the Lord wanted me to have. We have really been blessed.''

Maude admits she was worried that the first six babies were boys.

``I didn't think there was ever going to be a girl,'' she recalls, but finally Faith came along.

Faith had to wait 10 years - and five more brothers - for a sister.

``I always prayed for a little sister - I wish she could've come earlier,'' says Faith Daniels Miller, who lives in Wanchese.

Maude and Malcolm started their family soon after they were married, when he was working as an engineer on merchant seaboats, and was often away. Maude, not much of a churchgoer at the time, realized something was missing in her life. The Lord was ``wooing'' her, she remembers, and she asked her husband to go to church with her. He resisted, but one night she looked up and saw him in a nearby pew.

Soon Malcolm gave up his seafaring life to stay home with his family.

``Oh yes, if he didn't - a handsome man like that, away for a long time at sea . . . I wouldn't never have taken it. I would've divorced him,'' Daniels says firmly. She pauses, and smiles. ``But God loved us. I'm eternally grateful.''

All the residents on the Outer Banks know the Malcolm Daniels family - one of several of the Daniels tribes that live here. Malcolm gained a reputation as an innovator. He brought the first trawl boat to these waters. Later, when he saw that Oregon Inlet was beginning to close, he expanded to Hampton, Va., to ensure access to deep water. His feisty, can-do attitude gave the family financial security.

The Wanchese Fish Co., the business Malcolm started with Cap'n Willie Etheridge, Maude's father, grosses about $25 million in annual sales. The family also owns Fisherman's Wharf Restaurant in Wanchese, half of Teach's Lair Marina on Hatteras Island and two trawl and fishing supply stores.

Even natives who didn't play with them, go to school with them or marry them know Malcolm and Maude's children. They all were active in church and community activities. The boys played sports in school. Some have held public office.

Ranging now in age from 31 to 55, most are either in the fishing industry, active in the church, or are fulltime mothers. Seven still live on these barrier islands, two live nearby in Virginia. Others are scattered in Florida and Indiana, two run the family scalloping business from Argentina, another is a missionary preparing to go to India.

After Malcolm died in 1986, each member of the family split shares of Wanchese Fish Co., and at one time or another, most have had a part in running it.

``This family can do anything,'' says Jane Allen, a close friend for the past 25 years. ``They all have talents and skills and they all know how to work. Whatever they do, they have fun doing. And there's something when they come in a room - everybody brightens up.''

Work there was aplenty. Maude would get up before the children, feed the baby and start breakfast - scrambled eggs, hot homemade biscuits and grits. Then the older youngsters would be sent off to school.

Malcolm helped his wife with feedings and diaper changes. For a time after each baby was born, someone came to help. Later, the family hired a woman to do housework several days a week. After school, the children sat at the table doing homework, and Maude would go around the table, one by one, helping each child. When Malcolm was home, he would also assist with schoolwork. On Saturdays, Maude would make navy beans and homemade biscuits, and serve anyone who walked through the door. Faith, sandwiched in the middle of 11 boys, was counted on to help inside with the housework, while her brothers helped their father pack fish. But she says she wasn't treated much different than her brothers.

``We were always close. There was never a dull moment,'' Faith says. ``If we didn't come in when the bell rang, I got it as much as the boys.''

Mark, the 10th child, now headed for India, says the family worked as a unit, with everyone expected to pitch in.

``We had certain duties. We had to set the table. Then there was another shift when we had to help with the dishes. One was a scraper, one was a washer, one was a dryer, one had to put them back,'' he recalls. Yard work was required on Saturday mornings. No one was allowed to leave until noon, and friends couldn't visit in the morning. Pals quickly learned the rules, Mark says.

We just had a high respect for our parents,'' he says. ``Mom did discipline us - I can remember being spanked when necessary. But we were never abused.''

David Daniels, the fourth child, who is pastor of the famed Ark church in Nags Head, remembers that their father put everyone to work ``as soon as he could put a shovel in our hands.''

``We were his labor force,'' he says. ``You'd pack fish before doing your homework. We were always working. Daddy believed if we worked, he knew where we were.''

His father was a ``very traditional and rigid'' disciplinarian, David says.

``His philosophy was that all of us had a little bit of the devil in us. He'd say that either your mother could pray him out or he could beat him out,'' he recalls, chuckling.

But his mother ``led by her presence,'' David Daniels says. ``She was not forceful. She could just look at you, tight-lipped. I never heard her raise her voice. She was not a screamer . . . And she always seemed to know how to be fair.''

Church was a central part of family life. They practiced their faith as members of the Assembly of God church, a Pentecostal Christian faith. Besides Sunday services, the entire crew would attend prayer meetings. If revival meetings lasted until 11 p.m., the children stayed until 11 p.m. Maude Daniels was - and is - a strict adherent to the teachings of her church: she does not drink, dance, smoke, and she never wears slacks.

As a mother, she confesses, her biggest heartbreak is that all her children have not remained true to their faith. Some have even divorced.

Joey Daniels, her eighth child, admits he's one of the children his mother is referring to. ``I feel it's probably disappointing to Mom,'' he says, saying he may return one day. ``I can't say anything's wrong about that - probably I'm just not ready right now.''

He says he's grateful for his mother's concern. ``I probably wouldn't be alive if it weren't for her prayers.''

Maude Daniels won't even venture a guess about what it would be like raising 15 children today.

``It kind of bothers me in a way - they have to be entertained,'' she says. ``My children would get their own water. They have to do these things themselves.''

Independence means a lot to her, and although she says she appreciates her children's attention, she doesn't want too much fussing. ``As long as I can, I want to paddle my own canoe,'' she says.

She's always done what she could, and when she ran out of steam, she'd refuel through prayer. That's been her secret to good mothering.

And come Sunday morning, on Mother's Day, she'll share her views with her son's flock at the Ark.

``If it's anything, it's what God has done. I don't have anything that I've achieved that wasn't yielding to him. And he's helped me. He's to be praised for what he's done for me. I don't mean it in a manner for people to think wrong about it, to think I'm any better than anybody else. I don't mean that, honey. I don't want to be lifted up, you know. It's God that's helped me do anything that I've done.'' MEMO: FAMILY TREE

These are the names, dates of birth, residence, occupation and number

of offspring of the children of Maude Etheridge Daniels and her late

husband, Malcolm Spencer Daniels Sr.:

Kenny Lou Daniels; Feb. 11, 1942; Argentina; waterman with Wanchese

Fish Co. South American division; 3 children and 5 grandchildren.

Malcolm ``Apple'' Daniels Jr.; Nov. 10, 1944; Argentina; boat captain

with Wanchese Fish Co. South American division; 7 children and 3

grandchildren.

William ``Punk'' Daniels; Feb. 8, 1946; Wanchese; fishing trawler

captain for Wanchese Fish Co.; 5 children and 1 grandchild.

David ``Johnny'' Daniels; Aug. 28, 1947; Kill Devil Hills, N.C;

pastor of the Outer Banks Worship Center; 3 children.

Michael ``Mikey'' Daniels; July 9, 1949; Wanchese; corporate officer

and supervisor at Wanchese Fish Co.; 4 children.

Timothy ``Timmy'' Daniels; Feb. 8, 1951; Hampton, Va.; owner of Old

Point Packing, a fish-packing business, in Newport News, Va.; 4

children.

Faith Daniels Miller; May 25, 1952; Wanchese; homemaker, her husband

Frank is employed by Wanchese Fish Co.; 3 children.

Joseph ``Joey'' Daniels; July 6, 1953; Wanchese; president of

Wanchese Fish Co.; 3 children.

Christopher ``Enoch'' Daniels; Nov. 17, 1954; Hampton, Va.; corporate

officer of Wanchese Fish Co. in Hampton; 2 children.

Mark Daniels; June 1, 1956; Wanchese; a Christian missionary, he

recently returned from 9 years in Israel and will move to India in June;

2 children.

Thomas ``Tom Bill'' Daniels; April 3, 1958; Wanchese; co-owner of

Whalebone Seafood and officer at Wanchese Fish Co.; 1 child.

Samuel ``Sam'' Daniels; Dec. 21, 1960; Hampton, Va.; officer and

executive of Wanchese Fish Co. in Hampton. Former semi-pro baseball

player; 3 children.

Esther Daniels Wilder; May 12, 1962; Jacksonville, Fla.; elementary

teacher. Her husband is pastor of an Assembly of God church; 3 children.

Nanette ``Nan'' Daniels Channer; May 14, 1964; Fort Wayne, Ind.;

homemaker. Her husband Mark is a resident orthopedic surgeon. Former

manager of Fisherman's Wharf Restaurant; no children.

Amy Daniels Lanier; April 14, 1966; Wauchula, Fla.; homemaker. Her

husband is a deputy sheriff; 5 children. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photos]

DREW C. WILSON/The Virginian-Pilot

Mother's Day is special to Maude Daniels of Wanchese, above, who is

mother to 15 - 11 sons and 4 daughters. The whole family is shown

below, with Maude at right. Her husband, Malcolm, is at left in this

photo taken before his death in 1986.

Photo courtesy of Maude Daniels

Malcolm and Maude Daniels with Kenny, their firstborn, in 1942.

Fourteen more children were to follow for the Outer Banks couple. KEYWORDS: PROFILE INTERVIEW MOTHER'S DAY

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