NORWAY – Beryl E. (Billie) Daniels, 83, of Norway died Thursday, Feb. 8, at Stephens Memorial Hospital.

She was born in South Paris on Aug. 31, 1923, the daughter of Rodney and Marion Elwell Verrill. She graduated from Paris High School, Class of 1941, and then attended Maine School of Commerce in Auburn.

She married Lewis F. Daniels, of Paris and New York City in June of 1942. He was a T/Sgt. in the photo lab of 4th Signal, at Fort Jay, N.Y., and Billie got a job with the Signal Center.

When Lewis received his medical discharge, they moved back to Paris, then bought a small farm in Norway. In 1947, the Minnie F. Libby photography studio came up for sale, and this was the opportunity for them to go for their dream, a studio of their own. She was first receptionist and business manager, but as the business grew, another photographer was needed.

Having worked so closely with her husband, and attended the many seminars at the yearly conventions, she soon hit her stride, and was chasing her husband for honors. She was the first woman elected president of the Maine Professional Photographers Association, first woman and third photographer in the state of Maine to earn the prestigious master of photography degree through the Professional Photographers of America. She also earned the highest honor awarded by the Professional Photographers Association of New England, the George Hastings Memorial.

As a team, she and her husband were awarded a plaque by Professional Photographers of America for outstanding service to the profession. They were co-founders of the highly successful New England Institute of Professional Photography. She still found time for some community organizations; PTA, Business and Professional Women, Pennesseewassee Players, secretary, Chamber of Commerce, Sunday school teacher, trustee and member of Second Congregational Church in Norway.

After retiring to care for her very sick husband, she was a director of SAD 17. After his death, she was volunteer chairman at Stephens Memorial Hospital. She loved gardening, craft work and in her later years, her computer. She also loved people, and always said that was what she missed most about having to give up the photography studio.

She is survived by two sons, Michael, and his wife, Felina, and William, and his wife, Nettie: six grandchildren; eight great-grandchildren; several nieces, nephews and cousins; a double cousin, Gordon, who lives in Olympia, Wash., born the same day, in the same house as Billie, and as the Norway Democrat printed their births as twins to Gordons’ parents, they became the family twins, and always enjoyed a close relationship.

She was predeceased by her husband of more than 50 years; a son, Rodney; two brothers, Harold and Larry; and a sister, Lucille Davidson.