Daisy Carol Culley Meacham succumbed on the morning of 1 May 2012 to injuries suffered in a fire at her home. Born on the 4th of July 1932 in Alabama to Clarence Irvine Culley and Winifred Jeffress Culley, Daisy and her mother relocated to Texas after the death of Mr. Culley. Upon her graduation from El Paso High School, Daisy began her journalism studies at(then) Texas Western College. During her three years at Texas Western, Daisy acted as editor of The Prospector. Under her editorship, The Prospector won the national Class A Division of the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association. She served as secretary-treasurer of Alpha Phi Gamma, the honorary journalism fraternity and as president of Delta Gamma Sorority. Additionally, Daisy was a class officer, member of the student council and a member of Alpha Chi, the national scholastic honor society. She graduated as a "Top Ten" senior. Daisy married Cecil Meacham in 1953. During the early 1960s, the Meachams owned and operated La Fonda, a popular El Paso gathering spot. Daisy hosted her acclaimed Derby Day parties on every race day for several decades. The Meachams had two children:Jeffress Carter Meacham, who died in 2003 and Genevieve Meacham Burns, who lives in New Orleans with her husband, Patrick. Her passion for journalism led Daisy to Eastwood High School, where he taught and inspired students for two decades. Among her students, the affectionate sobriquet "The Daisy" immediately replaced the far too sober title of "Mrs. Meacham." She retained an active, mentoring role in her students' lives well into their adulthood and middle age. She left a unique and distinguishing mark on each student who passed through her classes. Her intellectual integrity, her passion for truth, her contagious joie de vivre, and her remarkable energy transformed hundreds of teenagers into young adults who bore the unmistakable "Daisy" stamp. She demanded lucid, scrupulous prose; she produced lucid, scrupulous thinkers. Under Daisy's guiding hand, the Eastwood publications Sabre and Salute consistently took national first place honors and, in 1981, Daisy was awarded the jewel in the journalistic crown: the prestigious Columbia University Scholastic Press Association's Gold Key. Nogal, New Mexico was Daisy's final home. She loved living high amid the mountains, the lightening close-enough-to-touch, and the fierce winds. Daisy found something there that matched her soul. No services will be held. In lieu of flowers, those who want to honor Daisy are encouraged to contribute either to The Macular Degeneration Foundation (online) or to your local animal shelter. Daisy nurtured generations of hummingbirds and erecting a feeder would be a quiet, personal testament to her. Daisy's wish is that her ashes be given over to the great Mississippi River, to be carried into the ocean, to become a part of the waters and of the rain. Those of us who knew her, loved her, and learned from her will appreciate that this final wish is right, is proper, and is, unequivocally, "Daisy."

Published in El Paso Times from May 3 to May 10, 2012