The mother of Syracuse Mayor Sharon Owens died Monday, a little over three weeks after attending her daughter’s inauguration. Pastor Ester Daniels delivered the closing prayer at the event, recognizing the significance of Owens’ election as the city’s first Black mayor.
“I pray to God, my heavenly Father, that his glory light will shine over this city," she said. "I pray that he would bless the boys and the little girls who looked up tonight and said, I can do that.”
In an interview after the ceremony, Owens acknowledged she was brought to tears by her mother’s words.
“I was fine until my mother started talking, and then the moment hit me," she said. "As everyone finished hearing her, they realized where I get my spunk from.”
Ester Daniels left the segregated south as a 19-year-old and settled in Geneva. She established a church there that remains in the family. In a Facebook post, her granddaughter Simone Owens said “we gained another ancestor.”
Daniels was 81 years old.
