Kathleen Smith Day

Kathie Day died on April 23, 2019 from head injuries sustained from a fall. She was loved dearly by her family, who valued her love for all of us. Kathie was preceded in death by her precious three-month old daughter, Jessica, her father Cecil Burke Day, and her older brother C. Burke Day, Jr.

Kathie will be remembered as our family spokesperson; an advocate who was the first to help in any crisis; the defender of anyone who was hurting; and an activist who put actions to her beliefs. Her children, Lindsay, David, and Hannah will remember their Mom as one who loved them unconditionally and who was always there for them. She enjoyed laughing with her best friend Aunt Carole, finding joy in life and her many travels and adventures. She managed to always be upbeat and positive throughout her life, although she battled health issues and experienced sorrows and disappointments of life.

Kathie had a spirit of adventure, independence and a natural leadership that she learned around the family dinner table growing up. Her parents sent her off to the Gaza Strip as a summer missionary when she was 17 years old, where she worked with expectant Bedouin mothers. From sky diving at Georgia Tech to bungee jumping to celebrate her 60th birthday, Kathie lived a full life, never giving in to the epilepsy that she battled her entire adult life. Always wanting to do things for herself, she went from learning to maintain her own vehicle to designing and building houses. She founded and managed her own highly successful home building company, Kathleen Day and Associates, for 34 years. When tiny houses appeared on the scene, she built a Victorian one, mimicking the award-winning grand Victorian—“the big purple house,” that she built in 1988 and where she called home in Inman Park ever since.

The family was amazed when she hiked solo over 800 miles along the Appalachian Trail, earning the trail nickname “Why Jay Brave” (ask one of her AT buddies for the interpretation). Last year, she travelled six weeks in New Zealand and Australia alone, but was never really alone, as she made friends everywhere she travelled.

She loved to ride horses, sharing that passion and dedication with her daughter, Hannah, spending countless hours tending to the horses and making a close circle of friends at Little Creek Farm. Her next trip was to be to Mongolia, hoping to trace the Silk Road and ride a special breed of horse.

Raised in Dunwoody, Georgia, she attended Peachtree High School, where she was a cheerleader and made excellent grades. At Georgia Tech, she continued to share her love as a cheerleader, Secretary of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and founder of the Alpha Delta Pi sorority, one of the first sororities on the Tech campus. Combining beauty with brains, she was runner up in the Miss Georgia pageant. Shortly after graduating from Georgia Tech in 1977, she married Don Breece and moved to Plano, Texas, where her daughter, Lindsay was born.

She returned to Atlanta and was heavily involved in the community, being in Leadership Atlanta and Leadership Georgia, serving as a volunteer at the Grady Hospital neonatal intensive care unit (NNICU), a member of St Luke’s Episcopal Church, and the Junior League of Atlanta. She served for many years on the Georgia Tech Foundation board and on the boards of the Atlanta Ballet and the Atlanta Zoo.

Several years later, she and her husband Bruce Gunter, established a home and family with children Lindsay, David and Hannah in the Inman Park neighborhood, where she resided for 36 years. Her friendliness and natural sense of hospitality welcomed hundreds of people into her home. During this time, she obtained a Masters’ of Divinity from the Candler School at Emory, her ministry being to bring the Eucharist to shut-ins. Her faith was expressed by her love of the outdoors and by her generous spirit by helping others, even as she evolved past the faith of her youth into embracing a broader, more universal spirituality.

She is survived by her three children--Lindsay Arehart, husband Corey, of Fair Play, Colorado, David, wife Catherine, and Hannah, of Atlanta, her mother Deen Day Sanders, husband Jim Sanders, brothers Clint, Peyton, wife Vicky, Parke, wife Forrest, and Sally Day, widow of her brother Burke, Aunt Carole Smith and Uncle Albert Smith, wife Mary Jane. Family was always the center of her life, and we will always remember her that way.

The funeral will be held on Saturday, April 27 at 1:30, H.M. Patterson & Son Arlington Chapel, 173 Allen Road, Sandy Springs, GA 30328. Her ashes will be interred in Arlington Memorial Park.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Kathie’s memory to the Epilepsy Foundation (Epilepsy.org, 8301 Professional Place East, Suite 200, Landover, Maryland 20785) or to the Appalachian Trail Conservatory (AppalachianTrail.org, 799 Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia 25425).