Page 206 - Always Virginia

194 Virginia Day Fritscher

24, 1938. On July 12, 1938, he had performed the wedding mass
of his younger sister Virginia Claire Day to George Fritscher. July
12, 1938, was also the 27th wedding anniversary of Father Day’s
and Virginia Day’s parents, Mary Pearl Lawler (McDonough) Day
and Bartholom ew Day, who had been married July 12, 1911, in St.
Louis, Missouri. Virginia Claire Day was also born on July 12, 1919.
At the time of writing this sermon, Father Day was speaking
not only of his own mother, Mary Pearl, but also of his pregnant
sister, Virginia Claire, who was a month away from becoming the
first sister of Father Day to become a mother, with the birth of Fa-
ther Day’s namesake, John Joseph Patrick Fritscher [Jack Fritscher]
on June 20, 1939 who was Father Day’s first nephew—before he
had nephews or nieces—in a generation in which only Father Day’s
brothers and sisters would leave issue. Just as important emotionally,
his closest brother Jimmie’s wife, Mildred, was also expecting their
first child, James Day, born October 1939, who became Resident
Judge of the Seventh Circuit.
This presentation of Father Day’s “Mother’s Day” sermon was
edited on April 4, 1997, by Jack Fritscher from papers inherited
from Father Day on his death at age 54, May 9, 1967.

* * * *

A Brief Biography of the
Reverend John B. Day

Born in Hamburg, Illinois, baptized in Michael, Illinois, and
raised in Kampsville, Illinois, pioneer pastor Father John Bar-
tholomew Day happened to be, in the lineage of priestly vocations,
only the fourth boy born, and raised, in the county to be ordained
to the priesthood in the Springfield Diocese.
For many years until his death in the rectory, Father Day was
pastor of St. Cabrini’s Church, Springfield, where he built the
school, the convent, and the new church building itself. Previously,
he had been assistant pastor at St. Peter and Paul, Collinsville,