Emily Day

Emily West Day, early and longtime resident of Richfield, MN died January 13, 2015 at the age of 101. This remarkable woman graced our lives with her love of family, education, and travel. Her loving, energetic presence will be missed by all who knew her. Though Emily would be the last person to ever discuss any of her profound accomplishments—or even to want recognition in print—her contributions to the cities she lived in, and the lives she touched, are too numerous to ignore.

Emily was the middle child of Harry F. and Vera S. West of Columbus, Ohio. She graduated in 1934 from Oberlin College and was accepted into medical school at Ohio State. After much soul searching, she chose to enter Case Western Reserve School of Social Work where she earned a Master’s Degree in group social work in preparation for directing services at inner city settlement houses during the depression. She started her career in Cleveland and Chicago but was later hired by the community board operating the Elliot Park neighborhood house in Minneapolis. During that time, she developed a summer camp for the children of Elliot Park and met the director of the Big Brothers camp, Whittier Day. They were married in September 1944. In 1949 they moved into a home in the farm fields now known as Richfield. By 1951 Emily and Whit had four children: Sarah, Thomas, Mary and John. Emily enjoyed both watching Richfield grow, and helping to make it a great place to grow up. She was active with the League of Women Voters, Friends of the Library, and the Richfield Historical Society.

Wanting to deepen her work with young children, Emily enrolled at the U of MN in 1956 to pursue elementary education. Over the next 25 years Emily enriched the lives of hundreds of students. Her science projects were always exciting; her students at Central, Portland and Centennial Schools often said the highlight of the year was the incubation of chicken eggs.

Her love of nature and her unlimited kindness were remembered by her students and colleagues. She devoted her considerable energies toward helping each student find success on their own terms. This commitment was apparent at home with her own children— especially as she strived to help her developmentally disabled daughter, Mary, to meet her own unique potential.

Although she retired in 1979, at age 66, Emily continued to substitute teach in the Richfield elementary school district and in special education well into her 80’s. To address the students’ surprise at seeing this little gray-haired woman in the front of the class, she would begin by asking them if any of them had a grandmother. Every encounter was an opportunity for teaching. She continued until recently, reading to the kindergarten students at Centennial School in Richfield, teaching about nature and sharing her long interest in sea turtles. Many students will remember her as the “Turtle Lady.”

On days she wasn’t teaching, life was busy with the Richfield park commission and a special committee to establish a municipal water supply. She volunteered hundreds of hours as a Traveler’s aide at the airport and helped to develop the Woodlake Nature Center. She also worked with the Friends of the Library and as DFL district and precinct delegate. She served many years as an election judge – passionately registering people and instilling the responsibility to vote in her children and grandchildren as well. Active at Unity Church since her marriage in 1944, Emily visited homebound parishioners for many years as part of the Pastoral Care service – even when she herself was approaching 100 years of age.

Emily had two things in particular that she did for herself – tennis and travel. Emily played in two senior leagues into her 90’s. She was well traveled and has been on every continent of the world including the Arctic and Antarctica. Her love of travel started early with trips to Eastern Europe and Cuba in the 30’s with her sister Helen. She continued to travel all over the world with her husband Whit and later with fiends and family – especially enjoying trips in her later years with her daughter Sarah. A highlight of her 95th birthday was a hot air balloon ride over the Nile River.

She was preceded in death by her husband A. Whittier Day. She will be dearly missed by her daughter Sarah E. Day of Richmond VA; son Thomas Day and his wife Christine Day of Duluth, MN; daughter Mary Day of Victoria, MN; son John Day and his wife Suzanne Degler of Palo Alto, CA; her African-son Trywell Nyirongo and his wife Marilyn Nyirongo of Nchenachena, Malawi; as well as eleven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren, who reside in all corners of the country.