Kenneth Bertram Day ¹

  General Notes:

BIOGRAPHY:
Kenneth Bertram Day was born on March 5, 1889, in Roxbury, Massachusetts, the youngest of five children of William F. and Lydia W. Day. Kenneth, whose father was a prosperous rope manufacturer in Boston, was educated at Harvard and New York University. In 1915 he moved to the Philippines, presumably in connection with his work. In 1917 he married Alice Worcester. Kenneth and Alice had three daughters, Anne Worcester Day (1919-2001), Agnes Elizabeth Day, (1923-ca 1945), and Sarah "Sally" Alice Day, born 1935. Kenneth was employed by the Philippine Refining Corporation, as was Alice's father.

Alice Electa Worcester was born on Sept. 7, 1896, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, to Dean Conant Worcester and Marion Fay Leas. Dean Worcester, born in Thetford, Vermont, in 1866, spent his adult life in the Philippines. He was sent there by the University of Michigan in 1896 as a biological researcher and in 1899 was appointed by President McKinley to the Philippine Commission to explore development potential in the islands. In 1901 Mr. Worcester was appointed Secretary of the Interior of the new insular government, and remained in that post until 1913, when he was made Vice-President of the American Philippine Company. Upon leaving official service, Worcester remained on the islands as business executive for the Philippine Refining Corporation and other companies until his death in 1924. He wrote several books on the islands. Alice Worcester, along with her mother and brother, Frederick Leas Worcester, relocated from Michigan to Manila in 1900 to join Mr. Worcester, and Alice remained there through the end of World War II.

When the Second World War broke out, the Days chose to remain in the Philippines despite the fighting. In 1942 Kenneth, Alice, and their daughter Anne were captured by the Japanese. They remained as prisoners of war at Santo Tomaso Prison Camp until liberated in 1945 by U.S. troops. Wartime bombardments destroyed their three residences and everything they owned. The Day family returned to the States after the war and eventually settled in Orford, New Hampshire. Kenneth Day died Oct. 17, 1955, in East Thetford, Vermont, and Alice, in November of 1979 in Orford, New Hampshire.

Source: Vermont Historical Society ²

Kenneth married Alice Electa Worcester, daughter of Dean Conant Worcester and Nanon Fay Leas. (Alice Electa Worcester was born on 7 Sep 1896 in Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County, Michigan, USA,³ died in Nov 1979 in Orford, , New Hampshire ² and was buried in Pleasant Ridge Cemetery, North Thetford, Orange County, Vermont.)