Dates

• Existence: 1919 - 2004

Biography

Cornelia Shrauger Day was born on May 7, 1919, the daughter of Cornelia Prentiss Shrauger and Harold Shrauger, Sr. of Atlantic, Iowa. Her grandfather was Dr. H. J. Prentiss (1867-1931), head of the anatomy department at the University of Iowa; her grandmother, Lue Bradley Prentiss (1868-1922). Day's brother was Harold Shrauger, Jr. (1916-2004) and her sister, Virginia S. Jones (1921- ). Cornelia Shrauger attended Atlantic High School and graduated from the State University of Iowa (now the University of Iowa) in 1940 with a degree in journalism. In 1940 she and (John) Robert Day, a law student at the university, were married. Cornelia Day attended law school at the University of Georgia and Iowa. Following her husband's service in World War II, the Days moved to Washington, Iowa, where she lives now. Their two children, Dennis and Edward, were adopted in 1954 and 1957, respectively.

Cornelia Day worked as a journalist for the Washington Evening Journal from 1948 until 1951, when she began her illustrious career as a devoted community activist. She was active, locally and nationally, in the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA), Planned Parenthood, and UNICEF. She was deeply committed to numerous programs for social reform and was officially recognized for her outstanding contributions. She was recognized as the YWCA Friend of the Child (1990) and was elected to the Iowa Volunteer Hall of Fame (1990). In 1995 the Days received the Distinguished Alumni Service Award from the University of Iowa.

The Days hosted more than one hundred foreign visitors through the Experiment in International Living, a national program with headquarters in Vermont; the Foreign Leader Exchange Program of the U.S. State Department; the Rotary Club Foreign Student Exchange Program and the American Field Service Student Program.

Cornelia Day and her husband were inveterate travelers, having visited all fifty states and more than fifty countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America.

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