Norma Cornnell Day

Norma Cornnell Day passed away on April 1, 2023. Norma was born in Cottage City, Maryland, December 22, 1920 to Walter Cornnell and Beulah McDaniel Cornnell. She is a 1937 graduate of Mount Ranier High School and a 1941 graduate of the University of Maryland’s College of Home Economics. While at Maryland, she was a member of Sigma Kappa sorority. At the ripe age of 20, she got her first job teaching Home Economics at Damascus High School and stayed there until 1943 when she enlisted in the Women’s Army Corps. After Basic Training she enrolled in Officers Training School. She served as Mess Officer in the Army Air Corps at Paine Field (Everett, Washington), March Field California 4th Air Force Headquarters (San Francisco), Richmond Air Base (Richmond, Virginia). She was honorably discharged in 1946.  

In 1947, she returned to teaching at Bethesda Chevy Chase High School.  She completed her Master’s Degree from the University of Maryland in 1955. In 1951, she married Tom Day. In 1953, she stopped teaching to raise a family and taught in the Adult Education program at night. In 1963, she returned to full-time work with Montgomery County Public Schools as Supervisor of Adult Education. She later became Director of the Adult Education Department before retiring in 1978.

Norma enjoyed life with a love of flowers, flower arrangements and church work with friends. She was a member of the Green-walled Garden Club, the Mason Dixon chapter of the American Rhododendron Society, the American Legion - Francis Scott Key Post 11 and Good Shepherd Lutheran Church. She was a volunteer for 28 years (1991 through 2019) at Frederick Memorial Hospital. 

She is survived by her sons Thomas Jr. (Colleen) of Baltimore, Maryland and Raymond (Mary) of Aldie, Virginia and daughter Dorothy Gaskin (David) of Savannah, Georgia, grandsons David Gaskin Jr., Denton and Connor Day and granddaughter Riley Day.  

Service will be held at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Frederick on April 7th at 1pm. Interment will be at Arlington National Cemetery at a later date. Memorial donations can be made to the University of Maryland Jean Hebeler Special Education Chair.

Arrangements are with Stauffer Funeral Home, Frederick. Expressions of sympathy may be shared with the family at StaufferFuneralHome.com.