A. Garnett Day Jr.

1930 - 2018

A. Garnett Day, Jr.

Indianapolis - A man of peace.

A warrior for justice.

A lover of family.

A follower of Jesus.

With amazing grace, A. Garnett Day Jr. lived a remarkable life, for eighty-eight years until his death on October 13, 2018. Garnett shared sixty-four of those years with his wife and life-partner, Carolyn E. (Wood) Day and eventually their children, Mark, Stephen, Laura, and David, god-children Marisa and David Schwartz and twelve grandchildren.

Garnett was born in Sweet Springs, Missouri to A. Garnett (Sr.) and Faith (Coffelt) Day on August 21, 1930 during the rise of the Great Depression. His early years of having to make do with very little informed Garnett's life-long approach to material things and manifested itself in Garnett's genuine care and concern for the environment. Garnett's comfort with the out-of-doors and recognition of the teaching and learning opportunities that came with spending time there meant camping was an early mode of seeing the country with his family.

Garnett was a preacher's kid who as an adult acted on all that he had absorbed and learned from growing up in the church. Throughout his life, he sided with justice for the underdog, compassion for those in need and a commitment to peace.

After graduating from Lynchburg College (Virginia), and Lexington Theological Seminary (Kentucky), Garnett followed in his father's footsteps and became a minister of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Garnett's deep appreciation of the teachings in the Bible and the opportunity to live his life in that church community brought him a life-time of focus and purpose.

Though classically trained in the Seminary, Garnett later reveled in studying the latest theological analysis and ideas within Progressive Christianity. Locally he helped found a Jesus Seminar Book Club, which has met locally for the last twenty years.

Garnett and Carolyn moved their family from Florida to Indianapolis in 1963 when Garnett took a position at the Church's national office in the Division of Homeland Ministries. In this role, Garnett could pursue his commitment to participate in the civil rights movement, anti-war and anti-poverty movements. In the civil rights endeavor over years, Garnett became the Director of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) Moral and Civil Rights Campaign. He served as the denominational liaison to the work of Dr. Martin Luther King's Southern Christian Leadership Council, spending the summer of 1964 doing voter registration in Mississippi and Alabama, marching across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma and temporarily living in Washington D. C., helping to coordinate Dr. King's Poor People's Campaign in 1968. Garnett worked on peace and justice issues for thirty-two years in the national office of Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

Strenuously opposing the Vietnam War, Garnett's first arrest for civil disobedience came in July 1965 when President Johnson came to Indianapolis to deliver a speech on Monument Circle; the local police made a sweep of all those protesting the war. One of the founders of the Free Church in Indianapolis in 1970, he involved his family in providing a resource for all young men leaving home to avoid the draft. In 1972, he along with two other local ministers were arrested as they protested in the Draft Board Office in Indianapolis, putting roses on desks and reading names of those from Indianapolis killed in Vietnam. That arrest resulted in three months of work release detention. Garnett always encouraged people to speak out and take risks in their own way on great moral challenges; for him this activism frequently included non-violent civil disobedience, in the manner taught by Dr. King.

Garnett's efforts to work on peace and justice issues included numerous trips with Pastors for Peace to take supplies to Cuba in the 1970s and 1980s, serving as an observer in Nicaraguan and Cambodian elections, and peace-seeking efforts between North and South Vietnam in the 1980s.

Locally, Garnett served on the Broadway Center Board, a term on the Indiana Civil Liberties Union Board, was a founding member of Indianapolis Peace and Justice Center, and Christians for Peace and Justice in the Middle East. Nationally, he served on the National Council of Churches Farmworkers Ministry Board from its founding until his retirement. During the summer of 1973 he took his family with him to California to work with Caesar Chavez in organizing farm workers. He was the Director of Disciples Peace Fellowship for ten years and in retirement was honored as the recipient of its biannual Peace Award.

Over the course of his life with family and friends, Garnett traveled to all fifty states and every continent except Antarctica. He particularly enjoyed a month-long tour of Yemen and Syria with his wife and son, Stephen, in the mid-1990s which focused his attention on the struggle to find peace and justice in the Middle East. He has always encouraged his friends and family to travel and experience our beautiful and diverse world, to embrace all that it encompasses, and to always grasp opportunities to contribute to justice and peace for all people.

Garnett is survived by his wife, Carolyn and their four children (and their spouses, significant others and their children): Mark Day (of Indianapolis, Indiana) (Felicia Ferguson) and Lauren, Christine and Aaron Day; Stephen Day (of Sanford, Florida) (Akpedje Day) and Kekeli Day; Laura (Day) Moore (of Washington D.C.) (Paul Hatch) and Mikaela and Maralina Moore; David Day (of Red Bank, New Jersey) (Regine Day) and Ryan, Myles, Dylan and Gabriel Day; David Schwartz (of Jamestown, New York); Marisa (Schwartz) Rogers (of Charlotte, North Carolina) (Scott Rogers) and Ellie and Riley Rogers; and his sister June Kreger (of Florida) and her three children.

As Garnett's parting effort to contribute to the betterment of society, he donated his body to medical research at the IU School of Medicine and encourages others to consider similar acts of generosity.

To celebrate his life and legacy, there will a memorial service at 2:00 PM followed immediately by visitation with the family on Monday, November 5th at Downey Avenue Christian Church in Indianapolis.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that you offer your remembrance of Garnett by donating in his name to any of the following charities: the Southern Poverty Law Center, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, or Downey Avenue Christian Church in Indianapolis.