Joseph Paul Day III

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S H A R E

Joseph Paul Day III

August 6, 1925 - December 9, 2016

Joseph P. Day went to join his Lord on Friday, December 9, 2016. “Joe”, as he was known, was 91.

He is survived by 3 sons, Joseph P. Day IV and his wife Ethel, Theodore P. Day and his wife Georgeen, and Andrew P. Day. One Daughter Victoria Mann & her husband Darrell Street. Four Grandchildren: Beth Diamond, Robert Day, Benjamin, and Carey Chapin. Five Great-Grandchildren Connor, Isabelle, Parker Day, and William & Kate Diamond.

Joe Day belongs to what has been called the Greatest Generation of American citizens. Born in the 1925, he lived through the Great Depression of the 1930s then through World War II of the 1940s. His early life was formed by these events and resulted in the values of the era: hard work, good education, loyalty and service to our country, and a healthy work ethic.

He was raised in Waltham, attended Philips Exeter Academy, and entered M.I.T in the fall of 1942. His education was interrupted, however, when he was drafted into the Army and as signed to the Signal Corps as a radio opera tor. For the next three years Joe Day, a lad of 18, grew to adulthood in what some have called seeing the world courtesy of the U.S. Government.

After a brief training period to learn Morse Code on the "speed key" machine, he was sent to Melbourne, Australia, traveling miles across the Pacific without a convoy. From there he went to India and over the Himalayan Hump into Burma.

As he traveled around this exotic Asian world, there was little opportunity for our men in service to fraternize with Chinese citizens. They were there for one reason: to finish the war in the Pacific. Joe's work might be likened to the email system of today: sending messages to Army outposts all over the region- messages that were received and translated immediately on receipt.

With the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima on his 20th birthday on August 6th 1945, and Nagasaki a few days later, the war was virtually over for the ser-vicemen who had fought in the Pacific area for many months ... but for Joe Day the best was yet to come. He didn't have enough points (time in service) to come home early after peace was declared, so his unit was flown to Shanghai, which, Joe says, was the highlight of his army career.

The war was over; the stress was gone, and the boys who stayed could now enjoy the benefits of their" wartime cruise"-the Chinese food, the relaxation, and the camaraderie with their buddies. For Joe there were two main reasons why his stay in Shanghai was so important. First was the opportunity to travel north and spend time in the capitol. Second was finding that the theater engineer was an M.I.T. graduate and president of the M.I.T. Club of Shanghai. It turned out that his immediate boss was also an M.I.T. graduate, so there was an immediate rapport and friend ship with these men. It was six months later in March of 1946, that Joe and his unit finally started the long voyage home.

After his wartime service Joe took full advantage of the G.I. Bill, which enabled returning veterans to attend college with tuition fully paid by the government. In the spring of 1946, Joe Day returned to M.I. T. where he graduated four years later with a degree in civil engineering.

Still hungry for more education, Joe applied to Harvard Business School, where he obtained his M.B.A. degree. Well-fortified with his educational background, 1953 found him in the employ of Wexler Construction Company in Boston, where he remained for thirteen years.

This was the beginning of a very productive and interesting career for Joe. As he worked with several different companies, including Macomber Construction, Aberthaw, and Gilbane, he and his families moved around the Massachusetts area from Concord to Winchester to Duxbury, with Joe commuting to his various jobs. He had extended jobs in areas as distant as Presque Isle Maine.

Finally Joe stopped commuting. He and his 2nd wife had always loved Corea Maine, where they vacationed for many years. They decided to retired to Brunswick in 1990. But Joe's working days were not over, for he continued a phase that had been central to his career: that of arbitration and training lawyers in construction safety. Later, they were lured to Cape Cod where their daughter was living. In a secluded wood land section of Falmouth, they built a beautiful home that they enjoyed together until his wife's death in 2002.

In January 2015 Joe moved to Riverwood, a CCRC in Exeter. Joe was fully retired and still enjoying his home and very active life. In addition to pursuing his varied interests in music, reading, and computer work, he has been on the boards of the M.I.T. and Harvard Clubs of Cape Cod. Thus, with his war experience, his education, and his varied career in construction engineering, Joe Day is a true representative of the Greatest Generation.

All Services will be private.