Gary Day

Gary E Day, 73, of Champaign died on Thursday, Aug. 24, 2017 at Kirby Hospital, Monticello.

There will be a visitation on Friday, Aug. 25 from 5-7 pm at Midwest Believer’s Church, 1802 S. Duncan, Champaign. The funeral service will be on Saturday, Aug. 26 at 2:00 pm at the church with Rev. Trent Cloin officiating. Burial will be at Weldon Cemetery, Weldon. Owens Funeral Home is assisting the family with arrangements.

Gary was born on Nov. 12, 1943 in Geff, IL; a son of William and Edna (Love) Day. He graduated from Atwood-Hammond High School in 1962. He worked for Pepsi-Cola for 28 years as a route supervisor. Upon retirement he began working at the Champaign County Sheriff’s Office, where he continued for 8 years until his health caused him to retire. Gary married LaVon Baylor West in Champaign on Sept. 16, 1990.

He was preceded in death by his first wife, Lynita Sue (Gray) Day and his son, Stephen Douglas.

Survivors include his wife, LaVon; 3 children, Kevin (Shari) Day of Champaign, Autumn (Scott) Owen of Paxton and Garrett (Erika) West of Springfield; 5 grandchildren, Ashlie (Drew) Hannagan of Gifford, Zackary (Lauren) Day of Zionsville, IN, Matthew West of Springfield, Scotty Owen of Paxton and Lauren West of Springfield; 2 brothers, Bill Day of Fairfield and Danny Day of OH and 1 sister, Rickey Lang of Fairfield.

Gary was a strong man of faith and loved to tell people about Jesus. This love led him to start many groups within the church and his religious community including a men’s breakfast group, Upper Room Bible Study and a traveling ministry with his 2 best friends called the 3 P’s (2 Pepsis and a Plumber). He also volunteered to teach children’s church and was a lay speaker.

Gary loved basketball. He was an active participant of the Gus Macker Basketball Tourney for many years and ran a church basketball league. He was also an avid coin collector and one of his greatest joys was to share his coins with others. He also enjoyed gardening.

Gary was healed from terminal cancer in 1998 and encountered many physical problems in the years thereafter but with his faith and his strong bond with his doctors, Gary survived and fought the good fight. The family would like to offer a special thanks to Dr. Sami Zabaneh and Dr. Jeremy Youse for the care they gave Gary and to Dr. Youse’s nurse, Bailey for the kindness she showed in sharing a pie with Gary.

The family requests that donations be made to the Midwest Believer’s Church. They also would like to encourage friends and family to share a memory of Gary, either on the online guest book (www.owensfuneralhomes.com) or at the visitation.