Curtis R. Day, Ph. G. ,M. D.
Curtis R. Day, Ph. G. ,M. D. An ex-dean of the medical department of the University of Oklahoma, Curtis R. Day, Ph. G., M. D., has worked out a career typically American in character. Born a farmer’s son, his ambitions early carried him into the realm of medicine, and after securing through his own efforts the means with which to pursue his professional studies, entered upon the practice of his calling with such determination and assiduity that he soon attracted to himself the favorable attention of the profession and the public alike, and has since steadily advanced to a commanding position among the medical men of Oklahoma. His success in his chosen vocation is the more remarkable, in that he is the only member of his family, so far as is known, who has engaged in the practice of the medical profession.
Dr. Curtis R. Day was born at Warrensburg, Missouri, December 3, 1806, and is a son of Joseph M. and Jane C. (Buxton) Day. On his father’s side he is of English and German descent, and on the maternal side of French and English ancestry, and the American progenitors of both families came to this country prior to the War of the Revolution, settling in Virginia. Both families, also, have been noted for their longevity, two of the Days having lived to be more than 100 years of age, while a number of others passed the mark of four score years and ten. Joseph M. and Jane C. Day were both born in North Carolina and were brought to the West as children by their parents, the families being pioneer settlers of Missouri. As a young man, Joseph M. Day was engaged for several years in teaching school, in which vocation some of the other members of the family had also labored, but later turned his attention to agricultural pursuits, farming having been the principal family occupation. Both he and the mother live at Edmond, Oklahoma, hale and hearty in their eightieth year.
Curtis R. Day was reared on his father’s farm in the vicinity of Warrensburg, Missouri, and there his primary education was secured in the public schools. Later this was supplemented by a course at the State Normal School, Warrensburg, and when he left that institution he began to teach school in the country in order to gain the means necessary to prosecute his medical studies. Entering Beaumont Hospital Medical College–now the medical department of St. Louis University–he was graduated in March, 1891, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine, and at once entered upon the practice of his profession at Mayview, Missouri, where, with the exception of one year at Lexington, Missouri, he was engaged in his calling for nine years, from 1891 until 1900. During this time he served as secretary of the Board of Pension Examiners of Lafayette County, Missouri, and in 1900 was honored by election to the vice presidency of the Missouri State Medical Society.
Leaving Missouri in January, 1901, Doctor Day removed to Edmond, Indian Territory, where he engaged in general practice, and while located there, in 1906, was given the degree of Pharmaceutical Graduate by the Ohio Institute of Pharmacy. At Edmond, as elsewhere, his abilities were speedily recognized, not only as a physician, but as a man of sterling ability who could be depended upon to represent his city’s best interests, and during 1903, 1904 and 1905 he served in the capacity of city treasurer. In 1907 he was elected to represent Oklahoma County in the First State Legislature of Oklahoma, in which body he was known as a working member, serving on the committees on public health, sanitation and practice of medicine; education, pure food and drugs, and dentistry.
At the close of his legislative duties, Doctor Day went to Chicago, Illinois, where he spent the following summer in special study of skin and genito-uninary diseases, a field in which he has subsequently become one of the leading specialists and authorities in the state. In the fall of 1908 he returned to Oklahoma and removed his field of practice to Oklahoma City, where he has continued to the present time with a constantly-increasing practice, his offices now being located at No. 319 State National Bank Building.
Doctor Day has not only been known as one of his state’s leading practitioners, but an educator whose labors have been appreciated by the very highest honors that may come to a member of his profession. For several years he was a member of the faculty of the medical school of Epworth University, as professor of genito-urinary diseases, and when that institution merged with the University of Oklahoma and became the medical department of the state university, he became head of the department of skin and genito-urinary diseases, holding this position until February 1, 1913, when he was appointed dean of the medical department of the University of Oklahoma, with the title of professor of pathology, serology and clinical microscopy. Various other honors have been conferred upon Doctor Day, and at this time he is attending pathologist on the staff of St. Anthony’s Hospital and consultant dermatologist of the State Insane Asylum at Norman, Oklahoma. He retains membership in the various organizations of his profession, including the Oklahoma County Medical Society, the Oklahoma State Medical Society, the American Medical Association, the Central District Medical Society and the Oklahoma City Academy of Medicine. Fraternally, he is connected with the Knights of Pythias, Oklahoma City, the Modern Woodmen of America, and the Phi Beta Phi fraternity. He is also a member of the Oklahoma City Men’s Dinner Club, and of the Presbyterian Church, to the movements of which he has been a liberal contributor. In spite of his heavy and multitudinous labors, he has found time always to assist other public-spirited citizens in their efforts to secure a betterment of civic conditions and no movement for the advancement of morality and education fails to receive his support.
Doctor Day was married in 1895 to Miss Agnes L. Bradley, daughter of Dr. and Mrs. D. H. Bradley of Mayview, Missouri. Doctor Bradley was one of the pioneer physicians of Western Missouri. To Doctor and Mrs. Day there have come two sons: Curtis Bradley, born in 1903; and Maurice Joseph, born in 1909. The pleasant family home is situated at No. 1625 West Twenty-second Street, Oklahoma City.