Jean Faulkner Day

Jean Faulkner Day passed away on July 3, 2020. Jean was born on December 24, 1935 in Red Oak, North Carolina to the late Bernard and Lizzie Lee Faulkner. She grew up in Red Oak, a town for which she maintained a lifelong fondness. She attended Red Oak high school where she played on the basketball team, served as state president of the Future Homemakers of America and graduated as the 1954 valedictorian and class president.

Jean attended Saint Mary’s College and thereafter attended Wake Forest University, where she was a cheerleader and played club basketball. The summer before she started at Wake Forest, Jean met her beloved husband, Richard Day. They were married after her graduation in 1958 and moved to Raleigh. For 62 years, she was a devoted wife and mother to their three children.

She loved sports and never missed any of her children’s sporting events. She was always an enthusiastic cheerleader for each of her children and grandchildren. While her son, Skipper, played varsity football at Ravenscroft, Jean organized the bus trips to away games for family team members for four years, which earned her the nickname “Bus Mama”.

Jean’s life was defined by her faith in God, her commitment to her family, and her compassion and help for others. Jean loved people. Her children fondly recall that walking to a dinner table in a restaurant seemed like an eternity as their mother greeted everyone from old friends to waiters, always asking about them and their families.

Jean was a member of Red Oak Baptist Church until moving to Raleigh where she became a member of Hayes Barton Baptist Church. She was involved in the Junior League of Raleigh and was active in the Red Oak Preservation Society.

Jean is survived by her husband, Richard Carlton Day and three children: Richard (“Skipper”) C. Day Jr. (Barbara), LeAnne Day Broyhill (Hunt) and Caroline Day Plummer. She was known as “Kaki” by her four grandchildren whom she adored: Richard (“Chad”) C. Day III (Caroline), Wilson Hayes Day (Haley), Caroline (“Carley”) Elizabeth Plummer, and Lee Scott Plummer, and two step-grandchildren: Christian Swan and P.H. Broyhill II (Haley).

The family would like to recognize Jean’s many dedicated nurses over the past number of years and doctors including Todd E. Helton with Boylan Clinic and Michael Meyers with UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.

There will be a private family service.

Contributions in her memory may be made to Hayes Barton Baptist Church Television Ministry, 1800 Glenwood Avenue, Raleigh, North Carolina 27608 or to the Red Oak Area Historic Preservation Society, P.O. Box 61, Red Oak, North Carolina 27868.

Arrangements by Brown-Wynne Funeral Home, 300 Saint Mary's St., Raleigh, NC.