John Day

Always in my heart.
kiky/maurizio

John, only just found out that you have joined the angels and saints proclaiming the glory of God. Thank you for your friendship.

John more than one person missed you on Monday. Time has not made your loss any eaiser for your friends to take.

I googled my name and john patrick days name came up. I read his Obituary, and I am quite impressed. I only wish I could have met Mr. Day during all of his work on the issue of hate. I am proud to have shared the same name as HE. Thank you Mr. Day for all your work.

As your sister once advised your mother, "May you be half an hour in Heaven before the Devil knows you are dead." Keep the wind at your back boyo.

It was with deep sadness that I read of the passing of my dear friend and trusted confidant, John Patrick Day. He was a complex person with many facets to his personality. He was a brilliant statistician and an impeccable historian. He was passionate about his involvement with politics. One of my first involvements with John was as my Campaign Manager when I ran (as a Liberal candidate) in Edmonton-Glenora in 1986. John was also an absolute authority regarding rules of order for public meetings. If there are any meetings in heaven, I’m sure God will hear John saying “Point of order, Mr. Chairman!” at some time.

But it is John’s humanity that I most remember. The way John lived his life defined what a true gentleman was. His modesty and his willingness to freely help others were legendary. I found him to be a guiding light for the Edmonton Catholic School Board when he was successfully elected as one of their trustees. John was a rare, honest, and completely trustworthy person. I will miss him very much. I offer my deepest condolences to his family.

Colin McDonald
Senator Emeritus, University of Alberta

John, I keep expecting my cell phone to ring, with your voice on the line asking for a ride to get groceries, or checking to make sure I am OK, or just wanting to get together to discuss all things political, human rights, historical, and religious. I find myself reminding myself that the cell is not going to ring.

You are missed very much. Thanks for being a friend, and a little of a big brother.

My deepest sympathies to the Day family on the loss of their beloved John Patrick.

I met John Patrick Day in the Committee for an Independant Canada at the University of Alberta in the realy 1970's. John was a great Canadian nationalist--we are so few in this era of sellout.
John was a modest man with nothing to be modest about.
John, you will be missed.
David Pearce

I am so sad to hear about John. My many memories of times spent crouched around a board game or hot in discussion in Mrs. Day's living room still bring a smile to me today. And always, there was John's wry smile in the background.
My thoughts and prayers for you all, brothers and sisters and other family of John.

John,

I have often thought back to the days you and I shared an office during graduate school at the University of Alberta. It was a lot of fun and I remember your absolute passion for Canadian and Alberta politics! You single-handedly made up for the lack of Liberals in the province at that time.

I also like to remember all of the help you gave me at the start of my career and your incredible knowledge of Alberta history. It is hard to imagine visiting the Provincial Archives in those days without seeing you there doing research.

I will really miss you as a former colleague and friend.

My periodic encounters with John while a passenger on the route 5 will be fondly remembered. He'll be greatly missed. Sorry to learn of the family's loss.

Everyone, write to: [email protected]. Dr. Indira Samarasekera, University Hall, University of Alberta, 3-1. Lets get John P. Day, B.A., B.A., M.A. that Ph. D. he always wanted in history posthumously. Lets make Mr. Day, Dr. Day, I'm sure he'd want that, he was only about 6 credits short & besides, he deserves it!

Our time together was one of the best investments I have ever made. Farewell old friend. May St. Patrick hold you close for eternity.

JPD - Sorry that I didn't get a chance to say goodbye. I will forever remember our trips in our younger days when we travelled in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, England and France. As Dave won't forget August 19th - I won't forget our time in Fort William. I hope you are enjoying a better place. You were a gentle soul and will be missed.

John did a lot of work to help reduce hatred, prejudice, discrimination, and hate crimes. Those of us at Stop Hate 2000 will long remember John for his dedicated work and friendship.

John was always there in some of the great and the not so great political campaigns of the past decades. He was there in municipals, provincials, federal and convention and other such campaigns. He was elected a Separate School Trustee. He was always there for his church. he was an accomplished and dedicated historian, statistician and analyst. John was a good human being.

Although he often laboured in obscurity and with little pay or thanks, his contribution is not forgotten. Goodbye John, have a pleasant journey.

We have all lost a friend and a political hero. My thoughts are with your family and friends.

John... It was a pleasure to know you for the past six years. Tuesday evenings will not be the same without you.

Your friend,

My history teacher in Grade 12 took me aside after the final class and told me that she thought that I would get along with her son...she wanted to arrange a meeting. Before I could respond, Mrs. Day (my favourite teacher!) asked for my phone number and told me that John would call.
A few weeks later, in the middle of summer, a battered car arrived at my parents house and a "young" man purportedly only 1 year older than me climbed out of the car...wearing a green blazer and a dark overcoat as well as a lambswool hat!! In the middle of summer!
Needless to say, John's wardrobe remained essentially the same for the next 38 years - as did our unbridled enthusiasm in the Liberal Party. We also discovered that we shared a fondness for single malts and beer.
I will never forget visiting John in Dublin in 1972 and taking him to visit my ancestors in Scotland. One evening John and I went on a pub crawl - we each consumed 4.5 pints of beer in 5 different pubs in just under 2.5 hours. The following day, John was none the worse for wear, up bright and early for Sunday Mass...I recall that I spent most of August 20th in bed with a terrible hangover! John never forgot that day...being the consumate statistician, he faithfully telephoned me each and every August 19th for the last 34 years to commemorate the event!
Here's to August 19th old buddy...I will miss you. Dave

john, im at a loss to hear of your untimely death and dont really know what to say but you were a decent and compassionate man and always willing to help others when others wouldnt/couldnt and i respected you much for that. wherever you are, i hope you are at peace and i thank you for helping me and many others. xxx michael

John I was just getting to know you. You were a man of great conviction and had a powerful intellect. I enjoyed the time we spent together I will never forget you.

I do thank you John for all the time gived as caring to rembering Matthhew.

Ciao!

Dear Moira, Norman, and family,

So sorry to hear of John's passing. He was an intelligent, caring individual and passionate about the causes he took on. With deepest sympathy, Barb Powers

We are very sorry to say goodbye to John. He was always a faithful reader, Eucharistic minister and alter server at the 5 p.m. Sunday Mass. He was always willing to fill in for missing people and was loved by many. He will be greatly missed. God rest your soul, John.

Well what can I say about my friend, Senator John Patrick Day. He still had the fire in his gut. In 6.5 years that I knew him, we constantly argued & bickered. But it was never vicious or mean. It was politics, so it was war.
He would argue the Liberal side & I the Conservative. We each won 1/2 the arguments.

Just two weeks ago, he was telling how his new friend Stephane & the Liberals were going to annhilate my buddy Stephen Harper & the Conservatives in the next election. He was excited about their fall from power coming up. How he was going to destroy me and my party, etc.

I said lets duke it out 80, 90 hours a week, whatever it took to defeat him I said and he smiled, that ever cagey smile of the old shakari, or tiger hunter, he knew the game was on. When I further suggested we get on a train, taking side trips to British Colunmbia and Saskatchewan for a national battle between us, he loved it.

John was the statistician, while I am the schemer/plotter. He nagged me to death to buy a Liberal card last year to vote in the Liberal leadership, I did so. I worked on the old man for about 30 hours, but for 29 days, I got John to become a Conservative and vote in the Premiership.

He later told me I was the only man alive who could have done that. The arguments got so intense, that for kicks he would be a Tory for a whole evening, while I'd take the Grit side. Up until last month, I had been working an afternoon to evening job, so I missed a lot of debates at our evening watering hole. But we made up for it with phonecalls, trips to the legislature and city hall, and lunches.

The key here is, John & I were great political enemies, but always personal friends. We had to be the big-league boxer, champion marble shooter. One of us had to win our 24/7/365 campaign battle.

Last year, John & I were watching the United States mid-term election coverage. He suggested we go & do battle in the 2008 Presidential campaign. He for the Democrats, I said my Republican friends would appreciate annihilating him. He laughed, but he knew that by agreeing to go on this trip, I'd fight against him, all the way. I told John, "you wouldn't have it any other way would you John", and he said "you've got that exactly right Rory."

To know John was to respect him. I only called him Senator as he wanted to be in the Canadian Senate. He appreciated the titles and accoutrements of power, having done fantastic analysis work for Liberals both provincially & federally for years.

He shared those numbers with me & I would share my stratagem ideas with him. We never degraded eachother & never sold eachother's secrets out, even once. Total respect & integrity.

John was a man of integrity, so honest: In the U of A Chorus, stuudent's groups, many activities. He was a faithful church parishioner and would always help others who were in need, despite his health troubles.

In the end his old heart gave out, it was a heart of gold in my mind. Where will I ever be without my Liberal boswell to advise me and ask me for counsel, I'll never know!

Regards To The Day Family,

Rory

You will be missed, JP

I met John, or JP as he signed himself in his e-mails to me, online on a messageboard that was set up to honor the memory of Matthew Shepard in 1998. Through the subsequent years, JP was a voice of reason and a peacemaker on the boards. Whenever the discussion got too wound up, he would be there helping people to understand one another. He was an unsung hero and a great man. I will miss him very much.

I will always remember John for his compassion and kindness towards others, his smile, his intellect, and most of all his friendship.