Narrative Summary
Interview with Lynette McDaniel by Mackenzie McDaniel
Lynette McDaniel, daughter of Ken Trout and Hilary Black, was born in Germany in the
late sixties on a military base in a military hospital. Both parents were in the military. She lived
there for one year before her parents were transferred to England where she lived for two years
before her parents were transferred again, this time to the states. Shortly after coming back to the
states her parents split up, her father went to California and her mother took her to Maine. Her
mother than married Thomas Paul Carroll, who followed the Catholic faith. She was then sent to
a Catholic school for a few years. When her step-dad passed away, his family took almost all of
the pictures and records of him and her mother was devastated. She pulled Lynette from the
Catholic school and she left the Catholic faith. She had so many questions.
In her teenage years she was enrolled in high school where she met David Atkinson. She
became pregnant at 17. She went to the church for guidance. The church had always taught her
that to abort a child is a sin. When she found out that she was pregnant and she went to the
church for advice on what to do, they told her that her child was an abomination and she needed
to get rid of it. For the church to go back on what they have taught to her, her entire life, was
confusing. That was the deciding moment in her life to fully leave the Catholic faith. That is
when she rediscovered her roots. Her grandfather, Thomas Black, was Native American. She
knew that he was Native American but she did not know that he still practiced his Native
American rituals. She told me in the interview that he was never ashamed of his practice. She
told me that he did not tell anybody because he did not want other people to judge his family for
his path. During his time, though practicing a different religion was common, his was considered
a form of paganism. My mother felt a little bit lost. She had ran away from home, been rejected
Missouri State University
Semester 2015
Religious Lives of Ozarks Women
by her church for help, and she had nowhere to go. My great grandfather told her the stories and
why he kept his faith hidden. She knew it made sense. She loved the stories. The overcoming
obstacles, celebrating life in each and every form, and she decided that it was the path that felt
right to her.
She married Jerry McDaniel and at 28 had me. She always made sure our heritage was
out and placed for everyone to see. Although I would say the most intriguing part about the
whole interview was that I found myself not knowing a lot about my mother’s past. She never
really opened up about it and it was kind of eye opening to get a new perspective on how and
why she lived her life. She loved that men and women were considered equal in her faith. In the
interview I asked if in her religion they worshipped gods and goddesses. She said that it
depended on the tribe and the individual. Her tribe would worship the coyote, also known as the
trickster. Or they would worship the wolf which symbolized a sort of guardian for them that
would lead them through their lives. Each tribe had a different animal they would worship that
had the same meaning as the wolf does to my mother’s tribe. That to me was the most
interesting. They did not worship animals as their gods. They worshipped the image and what it
symbolized for each of them. The most inspiring is that my mom left one church and went to the
roots of ancestry. I am actually inspired a little bit by my great grandfather. He kept his religion a
secret for so long, my mother even told me that he kept his family that still lived on a reservation
a secret. But, after my mother had felt confused by what the Catholic Church was telling her and
she went to him for guidance, he came out and told her the stories and some lessons that had
been taught down through the ages. That is why I believe my mom, in a way, calls the person she
worships Grandfather. And she is also following a minor religion in a world full of big ones that
may overshadow hers but it does not phase her and she keeps going.
Missouri State University
Semester 2015
Religious Lives of Ozarks Women
Missouri State University
Semester 2015
Religious Lives of Ozarks Women