Daisy Harris Stith

On May 27, 2023, our beloved Daisy peacefully transitioned from this earthly home to her heavenly home. Daisy Lorraine (Savoy) Harris Stith was born in Upper Marlboro, MD on May 15, 1927. She was the 8th of 15 children born to the late William Savoy and Maude Alberta Savoy Brown (Big Mama). She attended Mt. Nebo School in Prince George’s County, completing the 7th grade. At the age of 13, Daisy had a 5-day live-in job, making $3.50 a week, taking care of three white children. In November 1943 at age 16, Daisy met and married her first husband (the late Willie Harris). They had one child, Joseph. In 1955, Daisy gave birth to a daughter, Lynette. In 1958, Daisy met Benjamin Franklin Stith Jr., they got married and from this union they had two children, Leslie and Yvonne. At the age of 14, Daisy began working as a waitress in the cafeteria at Fort Meade Hospital. Later she decided to further her education and enrolled in the Cortez Peters Business School in Washington, DC where she learned business skills and learned to type and take shorthand. This school was among the few private-owned African American schools in the Nation and was among the first to teach the professional skill of typing, shorthand, and other clerical skills to a black audience and to help African Americans break into white collar professions. She also attended Atlantic Business College to gain more education in the business field. After acquiring her education, Daisy was hired as a Secretary and Payroll Clerk with the International Brotherhood of Bookbinders and the Graphic Communications International Union. She worked with the Union for 30 years and retired in 1987. Daisy accepted Christ at an early age and was baptized at the Historic Mt. Nebo AME Church where she attended Sunday School and sang in the choir as a child. She has been a dedicated and faithful member of Mt. Nebo all of her life. She wore many hats in the church, from singing in the choir (now known as the Majestic Voices), teaching sewing classes, participating in the Deaf ministry and working with the SHARE project for about 25 years, just to name a few. She also worked in the church office for many years. Daisy had a love for singing, sewing, bowling and doing jigsaw puzzles. She sang with the family choir (Mt. Nebo Gospel Singers) for over 50 years. The Gospel Singers was founded and organized by Big Mama, way back in 1949 and was made up of many of Big Mama’s children and grandchildren. Daisy was a charter member of the choir and was one of the first soloist for the group, singing “Holding My Savior’s Hand”. She most certainly crooned-a-tune when she sang some of her favorites, such as Telephone in my Bosom, Burdens to the Lord, Go Tell it on the Mountain, Sign Me Up and Jesus the Light of the World. She always had the congregation on their feet. She had always been a seamstress of sorts, making everything from her clothes, her children’s clothes, drapery, coats, wedding gowns, to pretty much anything that anyone may have requested of her. She spent lots of time sewing and made some of the most beautiful items. She was an avid bowler, starting with duckpins and moving on to ten-pin bowling. She participated in several bowling leagues since at least the 1960’s. Her ability to bowl came to an abrupt halt when the COVID-19 pandemic shut everything down in March 2020. At that time, she was still in a league---at the tender age of 93! One of her favorite things to do at home was work on jigsaw puzzles. She loved to do puzzles—and was soooo good at it! She would complete any size puzzle –up to 2,000 pieces in no time at all. She framed and hung some of the puzzles she completed. Some are still sitting at her house waiting to be claimed. Others have been given away as gifts OR if someone just came in and said that they liked one she would just give it to them. She never took any money for her prized puzzles. Daisy was a loving, caring, and generous person. She loved to cook and provided meals to her neighbors, just because she wanted to do something for them, gave them rides to the store and helped with whatever they needed. Over the years, she took into her home various family members , simply to provide them with a home, and/or to help them heal from a surgery or medical condition that they may have needed assistance with. She had such a big heart and just wanted to do what she could to help others. Daisy loved her family dearly and had a remarkably close relationship with her children and grandchildren. She thoroughly enjoyed all of the fun times and camaraderie that came with holidays, family events, summer cookouts and birthday celebrations. In addition to her parents and husband, she was preceded in death by her stepson, Benjamin Stith III (Skip); daughter, Lynette Washington; grandson, Nathaniel Harris; thirteen of her siblings: Katie Brown, Hattie Williams, William (Billy) Savoy, Sylvia Myers, Horace Savoy, Sr., Leverna Jackson, Leonard (Pete) Savoy, Constance (Connie) Reed, Grace Savoy, Evelyn Scott, Louise Johnson, Edith Savoy and Walter Savoy. Daisy leaves to cherish her memory, four children, Joseph Harris (Jeanette); Norma Belt (James); Leslie Harris and Yvonne Cheek (Thomas, Sr.); one sister, Winnie Parker; one sister-in-law, Betty Savoy; one brother-in-law, John Johnson; devoted granddaughter, Melinda Bryant (Cortez); devoted nephew, Warren Savoy; many loving and doting grandchildren, Kim, Gloria, Joseph, Jr. (Chizu), Kevin, Von (Kimberly), Vance, Thomas, Jr., Davon, Katrina, Scott, Jennifer, Maria, great grandchildren and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins and other relatives and many beloved friends and family.

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Daisy Harris Stith

May 15, 1927 - May 27, 2023