Geraldine Yvonne (Dykes) Daniel

 Mrs. Geraldine Yvonne Dykes Foster Brandon Daniel, 81, of Charlotte, NC was born into gracious living February 16, 1940 and transitioned into her glorious heavenly home May 14, 2021. Geraldine was born to the late Alexander Simmons Dykes and Mable Cauthen Dykes. In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her sisters, Estella Dykes Gibson and Mable Brodie Broadway; niece, Marie Montgomery Linder; nephew, Alexander Dykes; and brother-in-law, Julius Stroud.
Geraldine was a profoundly gifted and accomplished musician in her own right. Her musical journey began with lessons from Mrs. Margaret Beckwith, a piano teacher living in the nearby McCrorey Heights neighborhood in Charlotte, NC. Geraldine was a child prodigy playing Beethoven at the age of five. Her formative years propelled her musical career to consistently crescendo.
Her accolades include winner of many awards, scholarships and honors, both locally and nationally. She performed throughout the United States and was awarded the Paderewski Gold Medal, which is earned by pianists who compete in annual National Guild Auditions for ten consecutive years achieving a superior rating in each of their performances. She also received the NAACP Outstanding Woman Award 1981; Sister of the Year Alpha Alpha Chapter of the Alpha Phi Chi Sorority, Inc. May 16, 1982 and 1995 BEST OF THE POST Certificate of Fashion Excellence from the Charlotte Post.
Her formal education includes the study of classical music under Mrs. Vivian Scott a brilliant concert pianist at Howard University in Washington, D. C. and music Pedagogy at Manhattan School of Music in New York City. In 1986, she received a Degree in Music Education at Queens University in Charlotte, NC where she studied clarinet, violin, organ, and mastered the piano. She was a multi-instrumentalist musician, composer and arranger of gospel and classical music, and a renowned music educator.

Following retirement, her private music lesson enrollment drastically increased from previous years for children and adults. In 1999, she officially named this faith-based, musical enterprise "Gerrie's Christian Academy of Music" and spent her afternoons teaching piano, voice, woodwind and string instrument lessons. Between the years of 1995 and 2016, over seventy-five students enrolled and passed weekly through Mrs. Daniel's welcoming and nurturing home filled with her love of music. Semi-annual recitals and award celebrations were hosted at St. Phillip Missionary Baptist Church, convening excited students, family, friends, church members, and community to share in the faith, hope, peace, love and joy expressed through music. Throughout her life Mrs. Daniel transformed the lives of many students, and touched the hearts and souls of family, friends, colleagues, pastors and choir members through her love of music.
Those who are left to cherish her memories and played inherent roles in her music ministry throughout her career include her husband of 43 years Larry Daniel; sons, Prince Aaron Foster, Jr. (Kathleen), Jeffrey McClelland Foster, (Carol Aaron), Gerald Andre Foster, Sr. (Randella); daughter Scharie Brandon Nance (Romonte); adopted sons, Larry A. Daniel, Jr. (Cheyenne) and Michael E. Daniel (Dresden Whipper); a sister, Nellie Stroud; aunts Etta Johnson, Maxine Gordon and Ernestine Robinson; Nieces, Masean Weathers (Maurice), Gina Broadway, Yvette Montgomery; nephews, Mason Broadway (Robin), Golden Broadway; 19 grandchildren; 21 great-grandchildren; 4 great-great-grandchildren, and many cousins and friends.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Geraldine Yvonne (Dykes) Daniel, please visit our floral store.