Dawn April McDaniel
1973 - 2025
Dawn April (Odekirk) McDaniel, Ph.D., 51, of Lewisville, NC, passed away on January 31st, 2025,
after a courageous battle with triple-negative metastatic breast cancer. In her final act of
generosity, Dawn donated her cancer cells to the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer
Center, contributing to ongoing research efforts.
Born on December 27th, 1973, in Atlanta, Georgia, to Carol Homan and Roy Odekirk, Dr. Dawn
led a life dedicated to education, service, and writing. She graduated from Sheridan High
School, Denver Colorado, in 1992 and earned multiple degrees, including a Ph.D. in Psychology
from Saybrook University in 2022.
Dr. Dawn’s diverse career included four years of military service as a General Officer
Administrative Specialist in Camp Humphreys, Korea, and Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Her true
passion, however, was writing. She authored two books and completed her dissertation, leaving
a lasting literary legacy.
Surviving Dawn are her husband of 28 years, Jeff McDaniel, whom she met during basic training
at Fort Jackson, and their two children, Coralin and Megan McDaniel.
A Celebration of Life with military honors will be held on March 21st, 2025, at the Historic
Broyhill, in Clemmons North Carolina, from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center to support ongoing
cancer research and treatment efforts at UNC at Chapel Hill.