Edwin P. Day

Edwin P. Day, 66, of Oklahoma City, suddenly passed away on January 15, 2024.  His loss is completely unexpected, and his family and friends are greatly saddened.  Edwin’s big smile and laugh, high standards of music performance and his willingness to support fellow musicians will be missed tremendously.  His favorite things in life were family, church, Jesus, and music.

Edwin was born in Little Rock, Arkansas to Joel and Freddie Day.  He began his passion for music at an early age, taking piano lessons from Hazel Henson.  An upright piano and a metronome were in frequent use in the dining room of the Day household.  He began taking organ lessons at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral as a ninth grader and shortly thereafter converted to the Episcopal Church after having been raised in Mt. Zion Baptist.  He would later convert to Catholicism in 1985. Edwin became a band junkie.  He was in a marching band, concert band, jazz band, orchestra, and pep band.  He graduated from Little Rock Central in 1976.  

In college at the University of Central Arkansas, Edwin earned a Bachelor of Music in Organ Performance in 1981.  He received his Master of Music in Organ Performance from the University of Oklahoma in 1983.  Edwin won state and regional organ competitions and was honorable mention in the 1982 American Guild of Organist Competition.  

After graduation, Edwin began working as the full time Music Director-Organist for St. Joseph Catholic Church of Muskogee from 1983-1989.  He entered the seminary and attended both Conception and St. John’s Seminary for three years, from 1989-1992.  He then became the Organist-Director of Music at St. Bernard’s Catholic Church in Tulsa from 1993-2001.  From 2001 to 2022, Edwin was the Organist-Director of Music at the Christ the King Church.  After “retiring”, he substituted at various churches in the area as recovery from multiple surgeries for joint issues would allow. 

Edwin was the caregiver for his parents towards the end of their lives.  His father, Joel, was diagnosed with bone cancer in January of 1996, and he died on Memorial Day, 1996.  From March 1996 until 2011, his mother lived with Edwin until her death. 

He was a member of a Gather Group and the ACTS Community at Christ the King Church.  He felt closest to God at Adoration at the Holy Innocents Chapel, with his Gather Group and the ACTS Community. 

Edwin is survived by his brother/sister-in-law/nephew, Raymond, Laurine and Matthew Day of Fayetteville, Arkansas; Jo Ann Henton of Memphis, Tennessee; his nephew, Kevin Henton of Coppell, Texas; an aunt, Rachel Osborn of Compton, California; a cousin, Vivian Robinson of Kansas City, and many cousins who reside in California, Texas, Tennessee, and Florida.  He was the proud Godfather to eight children who live in Fayetteville, Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Houston, Peru, and Bolivia.  Edwin has been the “parent” of many four-legged children with Harley being most special. 

Edwin will be honored with a memorial concert of the Faure Requiem and prayer service at 7 pm Friday, January 26^th at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help.  Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated Saturday at 10:30 am at Christ the King Catholic Church.  Memorials in Edwin’s honor can be made to:  Christ the King Catholic Church Music Department, 8005 Dorset Drive, Oklahoma City, OK 73120. 

I Thessalonians 4:13-14 Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope.  For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.