Linda and Jack Day

In all her years, seamstress Linda Faye Young had never gone far from her home in Grand Prairie, Texas.

But in 1996, a turn for the worse in truck driver Jack Leon Day’s health led him to her home for a week. As Jack prepared to walk out the door at the end of that week, he stopped and said:

“I don’t want to leave.” And Linda said, “I don’t want you to, either.” From that moment on, the Days spent the rest of their days together – and their earthly lives ended only four days apart. Linda Day departed from this life Feb. 1, and Jack Day joined her in Heaven on Feb. 5.

The couple had called Blackwell their home for more than a decade and were loved by members of their church, the First United Methodist Church, as well as their countless friends and loved ones. Linda was born March 17, 1937, and Jack was born June 9, 1944. Linda was raised by her aunt, Mary Schultz, in Grand Prairie.

Schultz, better known as “Mottie,” ran a cotton farm. Linda spent her early life picking cotton in the fields, cultivating a work ethic and resolute strength that would define her entire life. It seems fitting that Linda would spend her early life picking cotton.

For the rest of her life, she’d use fabrics made of cotton to stitch together clothing for high-end companies such as Nieman Marcus and Jerell Clothing Co. in Texas. She didn’t know how to sew when she hired on at Nieman Marcus, and company officials were glad of it.

They wanted to teach her how to stitch their way, and they did. She carried that talent with her for the rest of her life. She knitted together countless wedding dresses, prom dresses and other outfits for family members, friends and customers.

She even knitted clothes for children in Haiti. Jack spent much of his life as a truck driver, hauling loads coast-to-coast with his 18-wheeler. He told stories about hauling military cargo and driving more than 100 miles per hour. In 1996, he became a deputy sheriff in Carter County.

Jack spent much of his life in Ardmore, where he taught classes at the local vo-tech. Neither Jack nor Linda talked a lot about their earlier years. Life rarely goes as planned. The two had no Jack Day children together, and their closest friends and families weren’t expecting them to leave.

We’ll have to wait until we all get up yonder to hear those tales. But what Jack and Linda always talked about – and always showed to everyone around them – was their love for one another. They exemplified the marital axiom of two people becoming one. Jack and Linda’s families had known each other for most of their lives, so Jack was far from being a stranger when he stopped by Linda’s home in 1996. He’d been on the road and came down with a debilitating case of bronchitis.

Linda had been her aunt’s caretaker for years, and she exhausted herself caring for her loved ones. But that was how she was and who she was, and she’d do it again for Jack. After Linda nursed Jack back to health, the two couldn’t bear to be apart.

One week – seven days – was the perfect amount of time for the two future Days to make up their minds that they’d spend the rest of their lives together.

The two were soon married, opening up a lifetime of adventure for Linda, who’d never roamed much. On trucking trips, she and Jack went to see some of this great nation’s greatest landmarks.

Some of their favorites were the Golden Gate Bridge and the Smoky Mountains. Linda never thought she’d see any of those sights. But her truck-driving man made sure she did. Around 2010, they needed a change of scenery. Jack was retired from trucking, and the couple moved to Blackwell to be nearer to their friend Jim Wilkinson.

In Blackwell, they found some of the children they never had: Richard and Cyndi Mitchell, Jourdyn Mooring and the Green family, among countless others. The two are also survived by nieces, nephews and additional relatives.

No formal funeral services have been planned at this time. Their family and friends will remember them and celebrate their lives as Jack and Linda would want them to: simply and lovingly.

The Days’ hearts were always intertwined, and they left this Earth just a few days apart. They met up again on Feb. 5 – and what a day that was.