Minzy Oral RAWLS

                   Day, Gladys M. - October 10 issue 1993Funeral services for Gladys M. Day, 90, of 307 N. Fourth St., will be held at 1 p.m. Thursday at Terpening & Son Chapel, with John Dowell and Melvis Horton officiating.Mrs. Day died Oct. 8 at Artesia General Hospital. Burial will be at Twin Oaks Memorial Park. Pallbearers will be John Baldanado, Johnny Day, Jim Taul, Gary Eastman, Tony George and John Schoonmaker.She was born Nov. 1, 1909, at Scraper, Okla., to Minzie Rawls and Winnie (Hatfield) Rawls. She married Dean Taylor Day on Oct. 11, 1933 in Tahlequah, Okla. They moved to Artesia from Alamogordo in 1993.She attended Northeastern State Teachers College at Tahlequah, Okla. and later taught at Twin Hills, Okla.She was a secretary for the Atomic Energy Commission of Los Alamos and was a native American Cherokee. Her great grandfather was the principal chief of the Texas Cherokee nation in the early 1800s. In 1945 Mrs. Day and family moved to Los Alamos, where she worked for the Atomic Energy Commission. In 1952 they moved to Cloudcroft and then to Sun Spot, where she was the personal secretary for Dr. Evans, until retirement in 1957.She was preceded in death by her husband, Dean Taylor Day, a son, James Johnny Day and Dean Allen Day, two grandsons, James (Jimbo) Day and Butch Taul.Survivors include: three daughters, Bennie Ruth Patterson of Artesia, Winnie Sue (Susie) Truelock of Tularosa, Veronica Ann (Barkie) Horton of Tularosa; two daughters-in-law, Janis Day of Artesia and Jacque Day of Tularosa; two brothers, Jack Rawls of Wilcox, Ariz., and Jay Berry Rawls and Una of Albuquerque; two sisters, Joyce Kathleen George of Albuquerque and Patricia Gunn of Ridgecrest, Calif.; two sisters-in-law, Sophie Rawls of Jamestown, Wisc., and Bonnie day of Miami, Okla.; 11 grandchildren, 19 great-grandchildren; and one great-great-grandchild.She was a member of St. Francis de Paula Catholic Church in Tuklarosa, was a volunteer for the County Health Office and Senior Citizens Center in Alamogordo and taught Catechism and served on the Altar Society at St. Francis de Paula.The children of Mrs. Day presented this poem in her honor:God saw you were getting tiredAnd a cure was not to be.So He put His arms around youAnd whispered "Come with Me."With tearful eyes we watched you sufferAnd saw you fade awayAlthough we loved you dearlyWe could not make you stay.Your golden heart stopped beating,Hardworking hands to restGod broke our hearts to prove to usHe only takes the BestWe love and miss youYou remain in hour hearts and minds forever ... Say hello to "Daddio."
                  

                   Note: Author of "Where the Red Fern Grows", about his childhood on their Indian land in Oklahoma.