Doris Juanita Daniel Hinely

Hinely—Doris Juanita Daniel Hinely, 95, on December 5, 2021, of kidney failure at the nursing home in Atlanta, Ga., where she had lived since 2013. Nita was born on March 5, 1926, the only child of Carolyn Inez Hutcheson and Charles Wayne Daniel, in Social Circle, Ga. Her mother was a hat maker. Her father served in the U.S. Navy in World War I and later owned a gas station. When Nita was ten, they moved to a house in the Virginia-Highland neighborhood of Atlanta. Her parents died in 1977 and 1979. She inherited the house and would live there for most of the remainder of her life.

Nita attended Bass Junior High in the Little Five Points neighborhood of Atlanta, and later graduated from Girls’ High School. She took ballet at the Decatur School of Ballet. Nita invited neighborhood children to her house to perform theater pieces in the basement.

She attended Young Harris College in Young Harris, Ga., earning a bachelor’s degree in religious education. She met James Wilford Hinely, who was also studying religious education at Young Harris College. They married in 1951 in the chapel at Emory University. Following their marriage, Nita and Wilford hitchhiked across the country to work at summer camps for disabled children.

In the summer of 1952, Nita and Wilford moved to Chicago, Ill., to work at a project organized by American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) at the St. Charles School for Delinquent Boys. The government required that all participants swear they weren’t communists. AFSC didn’t comply, so the project was canceled. Nita and Wilford became live-in house managers for Fifty-seventh Street Meeting in Chicago. During their ten years at Quaker House, they had two children. Nita and Wilford divorced in 1963.

Nita took a position in the Chicago Juvenile Court System, a job she loved. She traveled around the city visiting client’s homes. In the mid-1960s, she offered a pregnant 18-year-old homeless client to move in with her. This is the epitome of Nita. Bridget lived with her for a year, then Nita helped her get a job and apartment.

In 1972, Nita moved to Atlanta. She transferred her membership from Fifty-seventh Street Meeting, worked as the secretary of the meeting for eight years, helped start the Women’s Group, and did childcare for the meeting’s infants and toddlers. Nita worked with other Friends to offer an after school and summer youth program for children at Grady Homes public housing.

One former child of the meeting wrote: “Nita loved the kids at Meeting and we loved her back. When we started attending in 1973, Nita would greet us affectionately. She made us feel as though we belonged at Meeting.”

Nita was an avid reader and loved to watch TV, particularly the Oprah Winfrey Show and Dr. Phil. She never learned to drive. She was the queen of the bus schedule and would prefer to walk when the weather was good. She loved the sunshine and chatting to anyone she would meet.

In 2001, Nita’s daughter moved in to help take care of her. In 2010 Nita moved to Calvin Court, an independent living facility for seniors.

Nita is survived by two children.

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