Stephen M Day

Stephen Martin Day passed away peacefully in his sleep in Tallahassee Florida on May 9, 2023. He was born in New York City, New York on December 17, 1931, to James Verser Day and Eleanor (Forbes) Day. He grew up in Pearl River, New York, and graduated from Pearl River High School in 1949.

After attending the University of Vermont for two semesters, he enlisted, at the age of 18, in the US Air Force on November 14, 1950, where he began as an in-flight radar repair technician on B-29s, work that he soon pursued on both B-29s and B-36s as they flew extended missions over Alaska, work that, in turn, led to a plum assignment as a radar and countermeasures instructor.

Stephen married Sara Shinault in 1953. They had six children, Linda, Sandra, Jeffrey, Marcus, Stephen Jr., and Katy. They divorced in 1982. Sara died in 2012.

Stephen was honorably discharged from the Air Force on September 3, 1954. He graduated from Louisiana State University with a BS in Physics in 1957, and graduated from The Rice Institute (now Rice University) with an MA in Physics in 1959, and a Ph.D. in Physics in 1961. His research areas were in Cryogenics and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance. He accepted an appointment as a Professor of Physics in July 1961 at the University of Arkansas, where he spent 22 years teaching, supervising graduate students, and publishing his research. In 1967 he took a sabbatical for one year to teach and do research at the University of Nottingham in Nottingham, England; his family accompanied him and they often reminisce over their experiences and European travels while there. At the University of Arkansas Stephen, in addition to teaching and his research, he served terms as department chair, Chair of the Faculty Senate, and finally, as Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. In this last appointment he was actively involved in the committee that successfully raised a large endowment to honor Senator J. William Fulbright, for whom the college is now named.

During his years in Arkansas, as his family grew, Stephen was a father who enjoyed his children and was present in their lives as they grew up. After work and on weekends, he went to his kids’ Little League games, swim meets, and dance recitals, and picked them up from swim team every day. He was an avid golfer and introduced all of his kids to the sport when they were young. He enjoyed golfing with his sons throughout his life whenever they had the chance.

He was an early member of the Arkansas Canoe Club and spent many weekends on the Buffalo River. Stephen soon developed a love of whitewater kayaking, traveling all across the country to paddle the technical rapids in the east and the big water in the west, including a 12 day, 235 mile trip with his son Stephen Jr., through the most challenging sections of the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon. A few years later he and his daughter Katy, and son Jeff, spent 9 days kayaking the Green River in Utah. Also the whole family, including the young grandchildren, enjoyed occasional days of canoeing and picnicking on the many beautiful and peaceful family-friendly rivers near Fayetteville. As the children grew older and spread around the country, he was less of a presence in his grandchildren’s and great grandchildren’s lives, but managed to visit as often as everyone’s busy lives permitted.

In May 1983, Stephen married Kathleen Lyons. He accepted the position as Dean of the College of Arts and Science and Professor of Physics at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio. They moved to Ohio where they enjoyed the academic social life at Miami, especially when he and Kathy could host dinners and parties at their home. They took frequent advantage of the music, art, and cuisine of nearby Cincinnati and Kentucky. In 1986, representing Miami’s president, Stephen, four other professors, and spouses, travelled to several universities in China to establish teaching exchange agreements. This trip was a unique opportunity to become immersed in the Chinese academic culture, history, and cuisine. While the professors spent the day at a university, the spouses were provided with an expert travel guide who took them to art museums, points of historical interest, craft “factories” and more. They came back to Oxford with many memories, photos, souvenirs, and gifts.

At Miami, every academic break provided the opportunity to throw the camping gear in the car and head for the Smoky Mountains for hiking and birding. For recreation he joined the Oxford Country Club where he made many friends who enjoyed golf as much as he did. For exercise he often drove to a nearby lake early in the morning before work to kayak for an hour. Stephen retired in 1993, and they moved to their condo in Salem, South Carolina.

Stephen was an avid and active outdoorsman all his life. He excelled at golf from the time he caddied and learned to play at the Blue Hill Golf Course in Pearl River NY. He was a scratch golfer for many years, with a number of trophies. Shortly after he retired, he attended Professional Clubmakers Society programs to become a certified club maker and club fitter. He opened a shop in Seneca, South Carolina, which he ran successfully for several years. On February 11, 1996, he received recognition and a plaque when he shot the inaugural hole-in-one on the 17th hole (The Tiger Paw Hole) at the Walker Course, Clemson University, in Clemson, South Carolina. It was a course he enjoyed playing with his son, Jeff, who lived with his family in Clemson at the time.

In 1996 Stephen and Kathy followed a number of their golfing friends from South Carolina to a Florida golf community in Mount Dora, where their home was on the 18th tee. They enjoyed the camaraderie of this community, finding their golfing friends also had other interests: he joined a group of artists who met regularly to paint or draw together. His life-long artistic talent was rekindled and nurtured, and some of his colored pencil drawings won ribbons. Stephen and Kathy had become full-fledged birders in Ohio and began to join in birding outings around Mount Dora, increasing their life lists of bird sightings. Stephen learned to ski at 69 and fell in love with it. He and Kathy joined the Florida Ski Club and skied all around the country with other club members. For several years they travelled with their trailer across the country, dropped the trailer off in central California, and traded homes for a few winter months with a couple in California near Lake Tahoe. They skied almost every weekday at various ski areas. They became good friends with a neighbor there who skied with them and often joined them for dinner. During these years, after leaving Lake Tahoe, they would pick up the trailer and travel to Oregon to volunteer at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, greeting visitors, working in the retail store, helping with migrating bird counts, whatever was needed. The refuge provided a space and hookups for the trailer. On their days off, they would travel around Oregon. All of this led to the next change of residence.

Stephen was a skilled athlete and excelled at many rigorous sports. He understood the physics and mechanics of any sport he pursued and how to repair and maintain any of each sport’s equipment. He also studied and practiced how to prepare his body for each sport (if not how to be safe…). He wanted to live where he could seriously pursue his kayaking, road and mountain biking, hiking and backpacking, down-hill and cross-country skiing, and mountain snowshoeing. They decided they would move to a western state. So they sold their Florida home in May 2004, put their furniture in storage, packed up the trailer, and headed west to check out the possibilities. They visited towns in Colorado, New Mexico, and Nevada. Without a clear choice by October, they decided they would spend the winter in Bend, Oregon (which they had visited while volunteering at the wildlife refuge). They stayed for 15 years! He immediately made friends in each sport; they both joined parks and rec for group activities; they joined the Unitarian Universalist church where they made more friends. They also enjoyed social gatherings, camping trips, day hikes, and more with these friends.

His Bend paddling friends encouraged him to join the Bend Paddle Trail Alliance, which was raising funds to, among other goals, develop, publish, and display detailed maps of the Deschutes County portion of the Deschutes River and the Cascade Lakes for recreational paddlers to use to safely navigate these waters and to avoid areas that might be above their ability. His contribution was to research the waters and shorelines, coordinate with the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management, and work with a cartographer to do the layout of the river and lakes. He worked with a designer on the brochure, wrote all the text, and supplied all the photos. After the Forest Service’s approval of the documents and the sign placements in 2012, this important safety project came to fruition with the publication of the Deschutes Paddle Trail Cascade Lakes Guide and the Deschutes Paddle Trail River Guide.

He joined the Oregon-based Bicycle Rides Northwest, and in 2011, at age 79, did a 7-day, 500 mile bicycle ride through the mountains of western Montana, averaging 75 miles a day. In the winter Stephen loved skiing with Kathy, his children, grandchildren, and friends and hit the slopes almost daily deep into his 80s, often racing down black diamond runs. He was never one to hold back when skiing, paddling, mountain biking, or in any sport, and had so many plates, screws and rods from his adventures that he triggered the sensors each time he entered an REI or his favorite bookstores. He always bounced back and kept going. Once, after a particularly long recovery from a ski accident, as soon as he got the doctor’s ok, he immediately biked with a group around Crater Lake in Oregon.

But in 2019, with the progression of his pulmonary fibrosis and two winters of excessive snow, he decided he could no longer pursue his athletic lifestyle, and he and Kathy decided to move to a warmer climate, closer to Kathy’s large family, and nearer to some of his children. They settled in Tallahassee, Florida. He donated all his bikes and kayaks and purchased a battery-assisted bicycle. He rode all over his large neighborhood, wearing a backpack containing his portable oxygen concentrator. As recently as April 2021, he and his son-in-law, Doug, biked the 16-mile St. Marks Trail from Tallahassee to St. Marks.

He slowed down but kept busy. He was a liberally educated man—as a college student, then through books and lectures—in history, art, music, various religions, geography, geology, sociology (especially social justice), and he continued to increase his knowledge in the amazing developments in physics and math. He was often seen quietly writing in a notebook, he was working through math problems that occurred to him or that he read about. Stephen was a talented artist from the time he was in grade school, and he always had his art supplies nearby and his drawing area set up wherever he lived or traveled. In Tallahassee he returned to his colored pencils and produced numerous detailed drawings of his two favorite subjects: birds and flowers.

Stephen and Kathy spent those 40 years as the Velcro couple, camping around the country, paddling, hiking, skiing, volunteering at wildlife refuges, and birding. Tents gave way to travel trailers. They often spent months camping and sightseeing, they covered all the continental states, their loyal dog by their side, and made dozens of friends across the country with whom they keep in touch. The trailer also made it convenient and fun to visit the grandchildren who loved sleeping over with grandpa and grandma Kathy.

Stephen is survived by his wife Kathleen Lyons Day; his children: Marcus Forbes Day of Fayetteville AR, Stephen Martin Day, Jr. (Catherine Bravar Day) of Holden Beach NC, and Mary Kathleen Inhofe (Doug Inhofe) of Tulsa OK; his grandchildren: Jason Garriott of Fayetteville AR, Lindsay Sherry and Rachael Sherry of Fayetteville AR, Susan Day of Walled Lake MI, Caroline Day of Fayetteville AR, Jackson Day of Fayetteville AR, Alex Day of Wilmington NC, and Gregory Day of Portland OR; and five great grandchildren; his sisters: Virginia Day Benton of Las Vegas NV, Joanne Foley Servo of Dunnellon FL, Delia Foley Ferris (Don Ferris) of Homer NY; and many nieces, nephews, and cousins. His children Linda Day Hauser, Sandra Day Mills, and Jeffrey Shinault Day, predeceased him. He never stopped mourning their losses.

The family would like to thank Big Bend Hospice in Tallahassee for the loving gentle care he received from the nurses. The family also wants to thank the Neptune Society in Tallahassee, especially William Webb, for taking care of so many details with compassion and patience.

The family will hold a private interment service on August 24, 2023, 1:30 pm, at the Fayetteville Arkansas National Cemetery, which will be followed by a reception in a private room in Bordinos Restaurant, 310 W. Dickson St., Fayetteville AR, from 3 – 5 pm, where the family will greet friends (light refreshments and beverages will be served), all are welcome.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Stephen Day’s memory to Rice University Annual Fund—Undergraduate Scholarships or Pause4Paws at pause4pawsok.org. You are invited to leave messages and photos on this posting.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.neptunesociety.com/location/tallahassee-cremation for the Day family.