NEWBURGH – Mary R. Day lost her 19-year battle with cancer March 22, 2010, at her home. She was born Oct. 4, 1937, in Bangor, the first child of the late Charles A. and Helen (Loweree) Reynolds. She grew up in Lamoine, and was educated in Lamoine schools and Ellsworth High School, Class of 1955. She moved to Cambridge, Mass., after graduation to further her education and also to work at New England Trust Co., Boston. She came back to Maine in 1956 and married Daniel V. Day. They were married 53 years. Dan was a Maine state forest ranger for 31 years, starting out as a watchman in the fire tower on Chick Hill, Clifton. They moved to Benton in 1961 and raised their four children there. Mary worked as secretary to the superintendent of schools in SAD 49 for several years before moving on to work in the medical field. She was employed at the Thayer Campus of MaineGeneral Hospital for 10 years, then worked as office manager for two physicians in Waterville. After Dan retired, they moved to Newburgh and Mary went to work at Eastern Maine Medical Center, where she developed and managed the hospital’s first trauma registry. She also was a founding member of Trauma Advisory Committee to the board of Maine Emergency Medical Association and was a member of Maine Committee on Trauma. She traveled throughout the northeastern region of Maine with trauma nurses and surgeons visiting rural hospitals and helping to present educational programs designed specifically for each hospital. She retired in 2001. After retirement she and Dan took up their life dream of rail travel in Canada, the U.S. Southwest and Alaska. Mary was also a free lance writer and nearly 150 of her articles and columns were published. She also published The Maine Chapter Reports, the newsletter of the Maine chapter of Hospital Financial Management Association during the 1970s. She had a regular monthly column in the Maine Snowgoer, the newspaper of the Maine Snowmobile Association, and wrote the divers newsletter for Waterville Sub Aqua Club, of which she and Dan were members. Her articles have also appeared in magazines of the Maine Department of Conservation, on preservation of endangered native plants; in the Journal of Emergency Nursing Association and TOPS International magazine. She also wrote a private cookbook for her family members. She is survived by her loving and much loved husband, Daniel; their four children, Lorraine Estabrook of Ellsworth, Gloria Day of Hancock, Michael and Belinda Day of Benton and Tom Day of Jacksonville, Fla. She also leaves behind seven grandchildren, six great-grandchildren; two sisters and their families, Jane and Al Garceau of Prospect and Susan and Jim Hodgkins of Trenton; and two brothers, Joseph and Charles Reynolds of Lamoine. Her family was her passion and organizing family potlucks and reunions were her delight. A memorial service will be held 10 a.m. Tuesday, March 30, at Hampden-Gilpatrick Funeral Home, 45 Western Ave., Hampden, with Pastor Steve Nute officiating. Family and friends may visit 9 a.m. until the time of service 10 a.m. Tuesday. A private committal service will be held at a later date at Bickford Cemetery, Newburgh. Contributions in Mary’s memory may be made to CancerCare of Maine, care of Healthcare Charities, P.O. Box 931, Bangor, ME 04402-0931. Messages of condolence and memories may be shared through www.hampdengilpatrick.com. <
MARY R. DAY
