Althea Day Engstrand

1933 - 2023

Mrs. Althea Day Engstrand's service may be viewed on the Facebook page of Parkway Garden Christian Church. To see and hear the service we have placed a link below to the Church's Facebook Page

https://www.facebook.com/people/Parkway-Gardens-Christian-Church-Disciples-of-Christ/100068800128550/

When Althea Delores Dail was born in 1933 to Elisha and Irene Dail, the doctors said she would not survive more than a few days. Well, she did more than survive - she thrived ... for 90 years! As many say, a lot of living happens in that "dash between the birth and the homegoing date."
Althea was born in Hertford, North Carolina during the Great Depression. Thanks to God's grace and her enterprising parents, she did not know economic hardship; instead, she learned from her parents' example to share all of the material blessings and God-given talents that she had inherited with others. During her formative years, she learned that no one is better than anyone else and - but for the grace of God - hard times could be hers. Having discovered the gift of melody at her fingertips, she began taking piano lessons, which yielded blessings that would ring out for the rest of her life. As a result, her talents on the piano and organ empowered her to serve as the musician for more than one rural church in Hertford and surrounding communities. Her musical service continued throughout her life in every city in which she lived and wherever she worshipped. Her parents reinforced her natural caring nature ensuring that she would spend her life in service to others. She first worked as a social worker, then as the first black clinical sociologist at the psychiatric ward at Catawba Hospital in Virginia and, finally, as the head of a non-profit agency, The Human Involvement Project, that served at-risk youth in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Althea had a passion for God, education, music and youth. In her early days, she worshipped at both the Methodist and Baptist church, depending on which parent she accompanied, or later which church she played for. A standout student in her elementary and high school years, in 1950, she eagerly set off to Hampton Institute where she double-majored in sociology and education and found sisterhood in the sorority of Alpha Kappa Alpha, Inc. There, she fostered her love of music by playing with a jazz group and found the man she had prayed for, Calvin J. Day. In 1954, she graduated Hampton and became Mrs. Althea Day and they began their life together. They selected a Disciples of Christ Church in Indianapolis as the denomination in which they would worship and serve. Calvin, who worked as a Kroger grocery executive, began to be promoted and transferred from state to state, and with every move, Althea and Calvin made it their first priority to find a church home for their family. In each congregation, Althea served as musician and choir director, as a youth ministry worker, as a community outreach worker and as a Christian Women's Fellowship (CWF) servant. In fact, while residing in Cincinnati, in 1992, she conducted the Quadrennial Assembly Choir at Purdue University, which drew 7,000-10,000 women to Purdue University. This gathering of faithful women from around the world was a life-changing event for her. Althea later served as the president of CWF at United Christian Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1986, Althea was selected to serve as the Ohio Christian Women's Fellowship president, the first African-American to hold the position.

Through all of this, she remained happily married to Calvin, her best friend, husband and father of their two daughters, Marcia and Michelle until his transition home in 1996. While married to him, she worked as his helpmate, supporting him as he navigated his corporate duties, his Air Force commitments and his service as the first Black vice mayor of Forest Park, Ohio - all while being a mother and working with social service communities. Together, Althea and Calvin, mentored young corporate executives and at-­risk youth, hosted foreign exchange students from Japan, France, and Ethiopia and fought for social justice and equality in their communities and workplaces.

In 1999, Althea married Roger Engstrand, a retired Proctor & Gamble executive, a former member of the Forest Park City Council and a vocal and avid fighter for civil rights. Together they continued working for racial understanding and conciliation, worshipping at a mixed race church that would eventually become Kemper Road Christian Church, a congregation committed to building bridges across cultural differences to help God's people find their commonality in Christ.

After several years of marriage, Roger went home to be with the Lord. In His mercy, the Lord again supported Althea through widowhood. Althea eventually moved to Chicago, Illinois, making it home basis for her and her daughters Marcia and Michelle. Once settled in, she did what she always did with each move - she went in search of a church home. God led her to Parkway Garden Christian Church where she was excited to be invited to use her musical talents to be a musician for the church and to work with the choir. She was given the chance, once again, to make a joyful, musical noise to the Lord and to worship with kindred saints.

This description of the journey and some of the accomplishments of the woman we came to know and love as Althea Delores Dail Day-Engstrand are undeniably impressive. But what can be said of the essence of Althea? Four words - eclectic, faithful, innovative, and hospitable - describe her best.

Eclectic

Althea enjoyed a variety of interests and talents. She loved to design and sew clothes, expertise which came in handy during those lean, newlywed years with Calvin. She also loved to shop for unique clothing, antiques and quirky gifts. When it came to music, she could play Bach or a church hymn on a pipe or Hammond organ, bang out gospel or jazz on the piano and keyboards or beat out a rhythm on the drums. She loved to read histories and biographies and could talk your ear off about baseball, football and the Olympics, whether winter or summer. Althea Day loved to dance - whether she was ballroom dancing or doing the electric slide, she illuminated the dance floor at celebrations ranging from formal balls to costume parties. She was comfortable talking with people from all walks of life, whether they were local or national dignitaries, grappling with homelessness or addiction or working as prostitutes. At all times, she lived what her father had always taught her: "Treat everyone the same - with respect - and remember to listen," adding "You might learn something." She used her diverse skills, talents and interests to help lift up others and assist them in realizing their potential.

Faithful

Althea believed in God as the center of her family life and she believed in family, which necessarily included both biological relatives and friends that she embraced as adopted family. She worked tirelessly to serve God when called to serve, to instill faith in Jesus Christ in her children and to shower her natural and God-given extended family with wisdom and love. Throughout her life, Althea was comforted and strengthened by the Word, including one of her favorite verses found in Jeremiah 29:11, which reads: "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." She also lived her belief in Proverbs 3: 5-6, which states, "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."

Innovative

Althea could always be counted on to come up with a new way to do something or to blaze a new trail. (As it turns out, new trails are among her many legacies.) In 1981, when the United Way sought to cut the funds and thereby close The Human Involvement Project, the agency she headed, Althea prayed, laying the needs of the non-profit agency out in front of the Lord. He guided her to an innovative idea. She used God's guidance and her love of history and music to create The American Negro Spiritual Festival. It would be a contest that offered students of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and other colleges an opportunity to compete for scholarship money by singing Negro spirituals acapella in front of highly trained judges. Just as the Fisk Jubilee Singers had traveled the world singing spirituals and raising funds to save Fisk University back in the day, Mrs. Day innovatively used this historically significant music to keep her non-profit agency operating, while blessing the music departments of numerous colleges and universities. Under her guidance, the American Negro Spiritual Festival thrived from 1982 to 1998, growing in popularity each year. Not only was the Festival the first Black production to be allowed to perform at the historic Cincinnati Music Hall (and, reportedly, the first of its kind in the United States), it soon expanded well beyond Cincinnati to places as far away as Australia.

Later, in 1986, Althea continued her trailblazing ways, becoming the first African-American president of the Ohio Christian Women's Fellowship, where she worked to transcend longstanding racism while forging strong friendships and building the regional fellowship into a stronger, more powerful and inclusive organization.

In addition to her broad contributions, Althea was equally generous with her talents in her home church, sharing her gifts as a playwright with musicals such as, Pardon US, We Forgot Exodus, which was the church outreach fundraiser and the first African-American production to be presented at Cincinnati's Playhouse in the Park.

Hospitable

Althea's home was a gathering place, no matter where she moved. Choirs, neighbors, family, friends, and friends of friends were welcome to gather in her living room for an impromptu music session or to come together for a potluck, a sit down meal or a New Year's Eve party. Her home was a stomping ground for hungry college students who hailed from Indiana to Oman to Sudan. In fact, once when she and Calvin were headed out for a family vacation, they gave the keys to their home to a neighbor who needed to house an out-of-town family member for a funeral service. Althea and Calvin believed in making everyone welcome. It is both comforting and fitting to know that after a lifetime of warmly hosting others, our Lord has now welcomed her home.

Althea Day-Engstrand leaves to celebrate her memory two daughters; Marcia Day and Michelle Day of Chicago, Illinois; a dear friend and sister, Menona Logan, of Toronto, Ontario, Canada; a sister-in-law Dorothy Blom; three stepchildren, Nancy Thompson (John), Jean Main and Jim Engstrand (Janet) and godchildren, Jasmine and Calvin Mease. She also leaves to treasure her memory her beloved "adopted" family, Henrietta Cobbin , Lezlie Thompson, Ramona Crawford, Lauren ___, Russell Thompson, Denise McCauley and Eugene Anderson. To us all, including those mentioned here and others who were blessed to encounter her, Althea leaves the energetic memory of God's love, a legacy of service and a community forever galvanized by faith and love.