CORNISH- Shirley M. Day passed away peacefully at her home surrounded by her loving family and caregiver on June 27Th. She was born in Brockton, Massachusetts, October 6th, 1922 and graduated from the Brockton High School. She was married to the love of her life Norman E. Bleakney of Needham Massachusetts for 25 years and then married Kenneth C. Day in 1969 and moved to Cornish, Maine.
She was a very social woman playing beano, square dancing, bowling, playing bridge and cards at home and traveling. She visited most of the US national parks and a couple in Canada, on bus trips. She traveled to England twice with her sister-in-law. Each year she and Ken traveled south to visit his brother and family in South Carolina. She also traveled to Australia and New Zealand. Every other year she traveled to Montreal to visit friends. She loved to go camping every weekend with her family. She also enjoyed summers at Duxbury beach in Massachusetts and at her children’s camp on Barker Pond in Hiram. In her late nineties, she went on a jet ski ride on Barker Pond with her grandson. One of Shirley’s treasured moments was celebrating her one-hundredth birthday last October, a great milestone. She was an active member of the Cornish United Church of Christ and the West Day Post Women’s Auxiliary.
She was predeceased by brothers Russell and Jesse Mitchell and sister Louise Taylor, two husbands Norman Bleakney and Kenneth Day, also daughter Janet Johnson and daughter-in-law Judith Bleakney.
She is survived by a loving and supportive family; son Norman, son Russell and his wife Libby, son-in-law Lynn Johnson and his wife Marie; six grandchildren, Karen and her husband Arthur Lidral, Sharon and her husband Ryan Martin, Susan and her husband Robert Shwartz, Jennifer and her husband Jason Kimball, Johanna and her husband Dan Chapman and John Bleakney and best friend Jonathan Bailey. She also left seven great-grandchildren, Jaxon and Jane Kimball, Paige Chapman, Cameron and Noah Martin, Michael and Ashley Shwartz.
The family would like to thank Cynthia Bridges and William Krebs with FCP Live In for their wonderful and compassionate care with Shirley and the staff of Affinity Health Care.
Visitation will be held on Friday July 7th from 1:00 to 3:00 PM followed by a funeral service at Poitras, Neal & York Funeral Home, 71 Maple Street in Cornish. A reception following the funeral service will be held at the Cornish United Church of Christ vestry. Her burial will be held Saturday. July 8th in Needham Cemetery in Massachusetts.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in her memory to the Cornish United Church of Christ Memorial Fund, P.O. Box 235, Cornish, ME 04020.