Ingrid Ernestine Daley died this winter at the age of 69. Her friend, Angela Miles, remembered her as a kind person who was always compassionate about others.

“She was a really sweet person,” Miles recalls. “She was always saying, ‘God bless you’ to people.”

Miles knew Daley for 10 years, and the two women lived together at the homeless shelters Eugene Mission and Shankle Safe Haven.

Daley, however, struggled with some issues. Her loud behavior due to her drug use led her to get kicked out of several programs, including the Mission. In addition, she had had polio and used a wheelchair for the last few years that Miles knew her.

“She had polio and she was in a lot of pain, but she didn’t complain a lot,” Miles says.

While at the Mission, Daley left a positive impact on people’s lives. Her faith was strong, and she always remembered to pay people back if she borrowed anything. She always said good things about people, and loved her son, Ira, dearly.

“She would play her flute in the wee hours of the morning,” Miles says.

When Miles last saw her friend in early December, Daley was at the Park Blocks in downtown Eugene. “She was just sitting there in the cold,” Miles says.

Daley had been forced out again due to her addictions. Miles, as a former addict herself, knew that there was little she could do to help her friend. She later found out from Behavioral Health in Eugene, where she was a client, that Daley passed away. Miles doesn’t know exactly when Daley passed, but says it was probably January 2023.

“I think she’s in a better place,” Miles says.

Daley is survived by her son, Ira Daley.

Eugene Weekly seeks to run obituaries for those who die homeless in Lane County. If you know of someone who has died while homeless this year, please let us know at Editor@EugeneWeekly.com.