Please feel free to leave a memorial tribute to Donald at the end of this celebration of his life.

Donald Day, a cowboy, Army paratrooper/engineer, muleskinner, hard rock miner, and HVAC master tradesman, died unexpectedly on Tuesday, April 11, 2017. He was 63 years old.

Donald Arch Day was born in Eureka, Nevada on August 4, 1953, the second child of five and first born son of Mary and Ernest Day. His father attended Colorado Agricultural College (now Colorado State University) and was a First Lieutenant with the 10th Mountain Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop in World War II. His mother was a talented artist who studied art in Los Angeles, a professional championship bull rider, and baked the best bread in a firewood stove.

When Donald was growing up, his father moved the family to several places throughout Arizona where he could find work on ranches and in construction, including Flagstaff, Grand Canyon, Williams, Phoenix, Sedona, Cottonwood, Crown King, and Page when his father worked on the Glen Canyon Dam. They lived in remote areas and often did not have a telephone, electricity or running water. At bath time the kids hauled water which was heated on a cast iron firewood stove and poured into a metal tub. First the girls bathed, followed by the boys, and Donald’s father would go last.   

The Mexican boys at his school would tease Donald about eating a refried bean sandwich on white bread instead of a flour tortilla. Along with the Mexicans, the Indians would get into fights with the young cowboy, and after fighting each other they all became friends. This interaction instilled a respect for other cultures in Donald.

When the family lived in the Arizona Bradshaw Mountains, Donald would accompany his father on two-week long trips into the back of beyond on horseback to mend fences. Meals on the first two days consisted of bacon and fresh eggs packed in a coffee can with sawdust followed by non-perishable powdered eggs and hard salami. The can of peaches dropped in the horse trough at the start of the trip to keep cool were eaten at the end of the ride and Donald claimed they were the best peaches he ever ate in his life.

His father helped Donald get a summer job at the bottom of the Grand Canyon at age 16 washing dishes at the Phantom Ranch Canteen. Between lunch and dinner shifts, he was free to hike and would wait from a distance at a particularly difficult part of the climb to collect cans of Vienna sausage and beef stew that tourists would dump on the trail to lighten their load. It was a welcome change to the usual fare at the Canteen.

In high school, a judge gave Donald the option of jail or the Army after he was arrested for “playing bumper cars with real cars” along with his friends and the judge’s daughter. He decided to begin his military career. Although he was three inches taller than the maximum height of 6’6” for paratroopers, Donald convinced the 82nd Airborne to waive the height limitation and jumped out of planes. During one his refresher training exercises, a nervous lieutenant directly in front of Donald hesitated and endangered the lives of others as jumps are timed with extremely high precision. Donald quickly kicked “butter bar” out of the plane and forced the lieutenant to jump. On the ground, the grateful jumpmaster said, “Thank you Sergeant Day.”

During his military career, Donald was posted in Alaska and Hawaii. At one point during his service, the Army gave him the option to attend the U.S. Army Engineering School and extend his service by two years or be shipped to fight in Vietnam. Having lost many friends in the war, he opted for engineering school and became a Missile Equipment Specialist.

In 1977, as the Engineer Section Sergeant in charge of a unit in Fort Bragg, NC, an inspection by the Division Maintenance Evaluation Team resulted in an outstanding evaluation and Donald received the Division Certificate of Achievement. “Sergeant Day’s hard work coupled with his technical knowledge and ability to achieve maximum support from subordinates resulted in this superior rating. His achievement reflects favorably on himself, his unit, and the United States Army and is in keeping with the finest traditions of the Airborne.”  

When Donald was honorably discharged in 1977, he did not want a nine to five job. He worked along with his younger brother Wiley Day as a muleskinner at the Grand Canyon. Their job was to guide the mule packs hauling tourists into the canyon. The term “skinner” is slang for one who might “skin” or outsmart a stubborn mule, requiring great skill and determination. The young pretty girls were always required to join Donald and Wiley at the beginning of the pack and other tourists had to ride through the dust. During one dangerously hot day, Donald had tourists sit in a stream fully clothed as a means to protect them from the heat. An older lady refused because she didn’t want to ruin her hair after a recent visit to the beauty parlor. Later as she began to weave back and forth on the mule, Donald dumped his water canteen on her coiffed hair and saved her from heat stroke.

Donald moved to Leadville, Colorado, in 1979 and worked with his brother Wiley as a hard rock miner at the Climax Mine running jack leg drills in the stopes. The youngest of the family, Barry Day could not handle working underground and worked at a gravel pit on Tennessee Pass. The brothers frequented the Silver Dollar Saloon and every time they set foot into the establishment they thought of their father. During WWII, Ernest Day trained troops at nearby Camp Hale for the 10th Mountain Division and took a mule pack into Leadville to load up with whiskey for his “boys” as he always called his troops, and actually rode into the Silver Dollar Saloon to get his “supplies.” The brothers always envisioned this every time they set foot in the saloon.

Donald loved the Boom Days Festival mining contests and competed in the jack leg event where drillers use a mechanical drill to drill the deepest hole in a given time. The jack leg drill weighs nearly 100 pounds and must be carried to the rock and then back when done. He competed every year from 1991 until 1998, except 1995 when his mother passed away.    

Donald maintained a relationship, originally established by his parents with the Havasupai tribe living at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. They invited him to the Restoration Gathering of the San Juan Southern Paiute & Havasupai Tribes in 1994 and flew him down into the canyon to the reservation in a helicopter. He proudly framed a letter from the Vice-Chairman of the Havasupai Tribe and it hung on his wall.

With his Army engineering training, Donald started a career in HVAC spanning over thirty years in Arizona and Colorado. Drawing on his exceptional trouble-shooting and communication skills, Donald worked on complex HVAC processes including mining operations, power stations, pharmaceutical and bottling plants, computer server facilities, hospitals, commercial facilities, and even the Bronco’s Mile High Stadium.

Donald was extremely generous to his family and friends. His mother loved the white 1972 Lincoln Continental he gave her when it became difficult for her to get in and out of her Astro van. When his parents became ill, he moved back to Golden, CO and helped care for his mother for over three years. After his parents passed, Donald would spend every vacation visiting his aunts and uncles in Arizona. He installed and maintained a number of residential HVAC systems in friends’ homes and was always willing to lend a hand when a neighbor had a need.

As a child, Donald’s older sister Margaret Day McIntire inspired a lifelong passion for reading by encouraging him to read classic literature. He particularly enjoyed western history and poetry, and read the New Yorker from cover to cover. Robert Service was one of his favorite poets, “The Cremation of Sam McGee” was one particular Service poem he enjoyed reciting to a captive audience. He shared a love of horses with his younger sister Lori Day Brownfield, an excellent horsewoman like their mother.

Donald enjoyed fishing, hunting, kayaking, camping, soaking in natural hot springs, traveling, gardening, and especially entertaining and cooking meals for friends. He enjoyed frying up Rocky Mountain oysters and passing them off as a special treat to his friends. He learned how to bake from his mother and her sisters, and made bread, pies, and biscuits. He taught many friends how to can vegetables and jellies, and was known for his dill pickles. He loved animals and they loved him, except rattlesnakes which he turned into cowboy hat bands, jewelry, and art.

Donald was extremely proud of his military service and would frequently thank complete strangers for their service.

Donald Day was a treasure and will be dearly missed by his family and a vast number of friends, many who were like a brother and who would do anything for Donald.

Donald is survived by his partner Cynthia Tyler, his sister Margaret McIntire of Carmel, NY, his sister Lori Brownfield of Yelm, WA, and Ernest (Barry) Day of Guide Rock, NE. Donald was preceded by his parents Mary and Ernest Day, and brother Wiley Day. 

A funeral is scheduled for 11:30am, Friday, April 21 at the Fort Logan National Cemetery, 3698 South Sheridan Blvd. (near Hampden and Sheridan) Denver, CO. Enter the North Gate (not the Main Gate), continue to Staging Area B and wait in your car until a Fort Logan representative directs the procession to proceed to the pavilion precisely at 11:30am.  A reception to follow at the American Legion Post 178, 1655 Simms Street, Lakewood, CO.

In memory of Donald Day, the family suggests, instead of flowers, that a memorial gift be made to the Disabled American Veterans online https://www.dav.org/ways-to-give/, by mail: DAV – Disabled American Veterans, P.O. Box 14301, Cincinnati, OH 45250-0301; or by phone: 877-647-VETS (8387).

The family would like to thank the Golden Fire Department, America Medical Response, and the emergency room staff at Saint Anthony’s Hospital in Lakewood, CO for their efforts.