Richard F. Day

Richard Day was born to Frank Day and Elizabeth Martin Moore on December 3, 1953 at Suburban Hospital in South Gate, California. Richard lived with his parents and two older sisters, Carol and Gayle, in Downey. In June 1954, the family moved to Whittier. Richard started school at Bethany Baptist School in September 1958. He attended Bethany until the family moved to La Mirada in November 1960. Rick attended Escalona Elementary School, McNally Middle School, and graduated from Neff High School in 1971.

As a teenager, Rick spent lots of time with his nieces since his mother, “Grammie,” babysat Jamie and Debbie. Debbie says she did all she could to pester the daylights out of him. Rick really enjoyed having “quality” family time with his nieces – he attempted to tie Debbie’s hair to the pool drain, he locked her out of the house, he took her to see the movie Halloween and imitated Michael Meyers, he would steal the bundt cakes Grammie would make for the kids and lock himself in the bathroom so no one else could have any, he pinned her against the garage with his Cougar because she sassed him. Rick’s naturally mischievous nature also wreaked havoc for his mom. He got a big kick out of getting his mother “excited.” The kind of excitement that resulted in meringues and dinner rolls being thrown across the table at each other at holiday dinners. Rick also had a dog Heidi that he loved.

Rick enjoyed earning his own money and worked at Ford Pre-Delivery during high school. In 1974 he joined Distron Corp. loading trucks with stock for Burger King stores. After becoming a warehouse supervisor Rick decided it was more fun to be “the truck driver” and became qualified to drive a tractor trailer. Although the owners of the company changed several times (ProSource, Ameriserve), he stayed there for over the next 20 years.

Rick cared deeply for his family though. He was the one who came to the rescue when a car broke down and someone needed a ride home from work. He would pick his nieces up from school. And he did yard work at his sister Carol’s house in order to earn the use of her car to cruise Whittier Boulevard on Saturday nights.

It was at one of those cruise nights in 1977 when Rick met a tall, gorgeous blonde in a red Cougar, Nancy Martin. Even though he was competing with another for her attention, he convinced her to drop the other guy. Nancy and Rick were married on October 13, 1979 in Anaheim, California.

Nancy and Rick lived in Buena Park for two years, followed by two years in Placentia, and moved to a condo in Brea in 1981. Two years later, Kristin Alyssa Day was born. The young family enjoyed camping every weekend. When Nancy was pregnant with Kristin, Rick decided he wanted a dog. Nancy and Rick adopted Goldie. Goldie loved Rick so much, he ate his socks. When he decided she needed a dog house, and the dog house needed to be carpeted inside, Goldie decided to redecorate. She didn’t like the carpeting and showed him how much by destroying his carpeting work. But Rick loved Goldie.

Their camping days came to an end when they added a son, Joshua Martin Day, to their family on December 29, 1987. Family life became the center of Rick’s life in these years. They moved to a house on San Capistrano Way in Buena Park in 1988, where they raised Kristin and Joshua for the next five years. They enjoyed a close relationship with their neighbors, David and Maria, and little David. And Christmas lights – Rick loved decorating his house with Christmas lights. There was never a part of the house that was not decorated. He also liked taking the kids trick-or-treating, dressed up like Michael Meyers. This wasn’t such a good idea for all the neighborhood kids who were terrified. Fortunately, Kristin and Josh have banished the experience from their memories.

In 1993, Rick and Nancy bought a home together on Plainfield Place in Ontario, California, where they currently reside. Rick enjoyed woodworking, “Do It Yourself” tasks, his garage and everything in it, motorcycles, and fishing. During this time he also changed jobs and began working for Robertson’s Trucking in Fontana where he worked for five years, followed by two years at APEX. Shadow, a border collie, joined the family in 2001. He loved his owner’s smile so much that he showed his appreciation by chewing on Rick’s dentures. He welcomed Paul Vaea into the family in 2001 following the birth of granddaughter Elenoa on December 27 of that year. This was followed by the addition of granddaughter Liana who was born on July 27, 2003. While he enjoyed being a grandpa to his granddaughters, his joy was increased when he welcomed grandson Sione on June 7, 2007.

On April 19, 2007, Rick ceased his employment due to severe illness after which he was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia on May 1, 2007. He fought a battle that would take him from St. Jude Hospital in Fullerton, to USC Norris Cancer Center, to the City of Hope in Duarte, California. He enjoyed an almost two-year remission from leukemia after a successful stem cell bone marrow transplant in December 2007.

While enjoying remission, Rick became quite the cook. He enjoyed baking birthday cakes for his family birthdays, cooking dinners, and got in touch with his inner Alton Brown and Guy Fieri. He also spent a lot of time focusing on his pride and joy, his backyard. He enjoyed the waterfall and fire pit, which he had built prior to the birth of his grandson. He would also enjoy the company of his grandchildren, as he completed a built-in barbecue, bench seating for the fire pit and fencing in the backyard. His granddaughters would always be excited to see that he was the one picking them up from school, as they would occasionally be treated to ice cream.

Unfortunately, his remission was all too short lived. In October 2009, Rick began another fight for his life at City of Hope. Treatments could not save him from the advanced leukemia this time. His battle with leukemia ended on August 19, 2010 at 9:30 a.m. He leaves behind his beloved family: Wife of 30 years, Nancy, daughter Kristin, son Joshua, son-in-law Paul, and grandchildren Elenoa, Liana and Sione.

Arrangements under the direction of Draper Mortuary, Ontario, CA.