Paula Jean Grider McDaniel, 60, died Sunday, November 19, 2023, in Houston, Texas. A private graveside service will be held Wednesday, November 22, 2023 at 2:00 p.m. at Oxford Memorial Cemetery with a public Celebration of Life service to be announced at a later date.
Paula was born June 14, 1963, in Chicago, Illinois, to the late Joyce Leineke and Charles Grider. She grew up in Michigan and moved to Texas after high school, where she immediately dropped the Midwestern accent and transformed into the loud-mouthed and extraordinarily five-foot-two Southern woman we all knew and loved. There she met her husband of nearly 30 years, the late Tommy McDaniel, who spent the majority of their marriage falsely claiming she “followed him around like a puppy dog” until he would date her when we all know he didn’t have that kind of game (sorry, Dad). During their marriage, Paula and Tommy raised two magnificent daughters (who definitely didn’t write this obituary if that’s what you’re thinking) and launched a successful intermodal repair company in 1997 that’s still thriving today.
Paula was always the warmest, wittiest person in the room, often without trying. She loved to dance; she loved to laugh; she loved traveling the country to take blurry photos at Bob Seger concerts and making her love for the Dallas Cowboys her entire personality unless they were losing. Most importantly (and impressively given how often her grown children called during the workday for no reason at all), she always showed up for people who needed her, no questions asked. Her loyalty to her family, friends and employees was unwavering and unmatched. She was simply the best of us, all of us, and there will never be another like her.
Paula is survived by her daughters, Alex McDaniel of Fairfax, Virginia, and Mary McDaniel of Memphis, Tennessee; her shamelessly spoiled grandson, Jack Talty; and her sisters, Stella Bruce of Venus, Texas, and Tammy Buckwalter of Marion, Arkansas.
Those wishing to pay their respects are encouraged to make a donation in Paula’s memory to MD Anderson Cancer Center (mdanderson.org/gifts) in Houston, Texas. We also encourage you to live like she did — boldly, fearlessly, and eternally fueled by Bob Seger’s greatest hits.
