By her son, Edward Juan Lynum

My mother, Orlando City Commissioner Emeritus was a staple in Orlando municipal politics between 1998 when she was first elected to office until her retirement sixteen (16) years later in 2014.  She was born the fifth child of her mother Genia Pearl Clover in the then small city of Leesburg, Florida located about 40 miles northwest of Orlando in Lake County, Florida.

My mother grew up very poor, reminding her sons Sean Edward and me, Edward Juan that her parents only had 35 cents to give her to go to college. Mom often reminded us that her family kept their house neat and clean although they were poor with little to nothing. Graduating near the top of her high school class, my mother desperately wanted to go to college so, she wrote then President Lyndon B. Johnson. President Johnson made it possible for her to attend the historically black Bethune-Cookman College (now University). There, my mother earned her bachelor's degree in sociology.

My mother pledged Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. while studying at Bethune-Cookman. The only secret I could get out of her about her process was the "public" fact that she had to quack like a duck when walking on campus. After graduating Bethune, my mother married my father, building contractor, Edward Lynum, Jr. They then moved to the Parramore neighborhood in the big city of Orlando, Florida. My mother started work as a schoolteacher before beginning her career as a social worker with the Florida Department of Health & Rehabilitative Services (HRS).

After my older brother Sean was born, our father built a family home in the Rock Lake neighborhood that borders the Parramore neighborhood to the west. I became her second child, born and raised in this home. A devote Christian, my mother was a member of Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church located in Orlando's Parramore neighborhood. There she became a sister in Christ with Orlando's first black elected officials and private sector leaders who inspired her to seek political office later in life.

Daisy Lynum made her first run for political office in 1982, unsuccessfully running against State Representative Alzo J. Reddick. Mom constantly reminded me and Sean of the close and special friendship she developed with Alzo and Eloise Reddick after that election. Reddick made it possible for Sean to serve as a legislative page while in high school.

Daisy Lynum is also a cancer survivor. Expecting to die from a cervical cancer, she turned to a Pentecostal prayer group for healing when I was 12 years old. During a prayer meeting, God spoke to me and told me "You're going to be a minister." A few weeks later, my mother told me she believed that she levitated over her bed while God healed her from the cancer. She reported to us the doctor said the cancer was miraculously gone.

Daisy Lynum left her job at the Department of Health & Rehabilitative Services to work as a social worker for the Orange County School Board. While there, she returned to college to earn her Master's in Social Work from the Florida State University's satellite program at the University of Central Florida. In 1989, my mom again unsuccessfully attempted toppling a political incumbent by running against Orlando City Commissioner Nap Ford. Nine years later in 1998, while gravely ill Commissioner Ford endorsed my mother to succeed him as City Commissioner of Orlando's district 5. My brother, Sean was an officer with the Orlando Police Department when our mother was elected. This prompted him to move on to federal law enforcement. Commissioner Ford's widow, Rebecca "Becky" Ford would then become one of our mother's closest and dearest friends.

Daisy Lynum's church home split after the passing of our neighbor and pastor, J.W. Toomer. Mom decided to follow her Bethune-Cookman classmate, Randolph Bracy to his New Covenant Baptist Church where she became a member. My mother's ambition led her to become the statewide president of Florida's Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials before becoming the National President of the Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials. In that capacity, my mother served as a board member at the National League of Cities advancing policies for the advancement of blacks and African Americans.

The poor Williams girl from Leesburg, Florida then became a world-wide traveler, travelling several times to both China and Africa on official business. One of my mother's proudest accomplishments was successfully advocating for the Florida A&M University College of Law's reestablishment in her Orlando city district of Parramore. My attending and becoming a member of its inaugural graduating class then superseded that accomplishment.

Everyone who knew my mother, Daisy W. Lynum knows she enjoyed passing time with friends over a glass of beer or wine. Mom loved spending time with her younger sisters Minnie and Shirley. More importantly, she loved everything they cooked, even chitterlings and liver with onions. Her other surviving siblings, MacArthur and Joann also enjoyed to fellowship as a family over their cooking.

My mother loved travelling and spending time with her little baby niece, Barbara who's close to her in age. However, everyone knows my mother's first love became her three grandchildren Daniela, Ellesse, and Lily. Nothing in the world made Daisy Lynum happier than seeing and spending time with her three granddaughters.

Sean and I often hoped our mother was just joking when she'd say she'd trade both of us for her daughter-in-law, Mercedes or "Mitch." Our mother leaves behind an army of close friends but she probably drank more beer with her friends Jeff and Rai then with all her other friends combined. My mother repeatedly told me several things but three of the most important to me were: 1) "Help poor people" 2) "Fear nothing but God" and 3) "Do something you've never before done."

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