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Submitted: 6/27/22 • Approved: 7/15/22 • Last Updated: 7/18/22 • R1438010-G1438009-S3
Rev. Willard C. Day
August 25, 1913 - August 29, 1984
Helen Irene Day
July 8, 1917 - October 17, 2002
*Obituary
Willard Callaway Clyde DAY, was the son of Francis Marion DAY (b.MO) and Katherine (Catherine?) Mahalia (Hayes) DAY (b.AR). He was the youngest of their several children.
He married Helen I. CHAMBERS, May 1, 1937, in Beggs, OK. In the 1940 census, they were living in Red Fork, OK, with a daughter, Shirley.
He was an ordained Free Will Baptist minister, who pastored in Missouri, Oklahoma and Arkansas. He became the first FWB Promotional Secretary in the state of Arkansas. He was also a member of the Foreign Missions Board of the National Ass'n of FWB, in the early 50s.
He was elected moderator and served the Oklahoma State Ass'n of Free Will Baptists in the 1950's.
He was recognized as a strong, Biblical teacher and taught from printed lessons on Biblical subjects he sent out to his radio listeners, and from which he also taught in church schools. Some tapes of these lectures are in private possesion.
He was awarded a D.D. degree and was known among his brethren as Dr. Willard C. Day.
He died of cancer and attendant problems in Ft. Smith, AR, loved and lamented by family and friends alike.
Ocker Funeral Home, Van Buren, AR. was in charge of his service.
*Obituary
Helen Irene Day, 85, of Van Buren died Thursday, Oct. 17, 2002, in a local nursing home. She was a homemaker and of the Free Will Baptist faith. She was preceded in death by her husband, the Rev. Willard C. Day. Funeral will be 1 p.m. today at Ocker Funeral Home Memorial Chapel in Van Buren with burial at Gracelawn Cemetery in Van Buren. She is survived by a daughter, Shirley Waldo of Van Buren; a sister, Blanche Chambers of Van Buren; two granddaughters, Teresa Montgomery and Debbie Peters, both of Van Buren; a grandson, Kevin Waldo of Indianapolis; and six great-grandchildren.
Pallbearers will be Quince O'Kelley, Glen Rainwater, Jerry Fears, Truman Fowler, Ron Hebensperger and Fay Sirmon.
Photo courtesy of Frances Allen Titsworth
Contributed on 6/27/22 by Bill060
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Record #: 1438010