Plan for the Future
Click here to view the Funeral Mass live-stream at 10am, Mon 4/25
*Please note the above link will be turned on at 930am on 4/25.
Rocio Botero Day, LCSW, of Guttenberg, New Jersey, died on April 20, 2022. She was born Maria Consuelo Eugenia Botero Montoya in the town of Medellin, Colombia, on March 4, 1933. She was educated at the Tropical Oil School in El Centro, Colombia by her beloved teacher, Ruth Day LaCour, and later, at the Sacre Ceour in Bogota, Colombia. Though she only went to school through the 8th grade in Colombia, after she immigrated to the United States, Rocio went on to receive a Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology from Rutgers University, followed by a Master’s Degree in Social Work from Rutgers University. At the age of seventy (70), she received a Master’s of Science Degree in Religious Studies from Fordham University.
Rocio worked as a clinical social worker and spiritual director in New Jersey until she was 88 years old, practicing first in Metuchen, which included her treatment of persons with agoraphobia and panic disorders. Later, in Guttenberg, she treated many victims of trauma and domestic violence including survivors of 9/11. She trained, supervised and mentored many social workers in her practice. For several years, she volunteered her time at the Mercy Center in the Bronx, where she developed a program for anger management, helping bi-cultural parents regain custody of their children. A victim of trauma, and a bi-cultural parent herself, this work became Rocio’s life calling—she later published a book based on the program she developed, entitled The Anger Management Training Manual: Seeds of Change. Rocio also served for several years on the Board of Education of Guttenberg where she continued her commitment to disadvantaged children, many of whom were undocumented and/or bi-cultural. Rocio was a certified Consultant for the Academy of Clinical Hypnosis. She was also a member of TERRAP, a national organization for the treatment of persons with agoraphobia, panic disorders, and post-traumatic stress.
Rocio was a deeply spiritual person who, above all, loved her family. She shared her sense of adventure, her love of nature, cooking, and travel, and her gratitude for this wonderful life with all who her knew her. She believed that life is a banquet and that those who have more have a duty to those who have less. She opened her home and her heart to many nieces, nephews, and friends over her lifetime, and was adopted as a second and beloved mother by many. She was married for thirty (30) years to the love of her life, the late Richard Lincoln Day, with whom she had and raised three (3) children. She performed with him in air (aviation) shows for many years, and created many happy memories with him and their children and grandchildren at their home on the Delaware Bay.
Rocio was pre-deceased by two sisters, her husband, Richard, and, her sister-in-law Louise Nichols Botero, and brothers-in-law, Luis Miguel Pardo, Jaime Gutierrez, and Patrick Day. She is survived by her three (3) children, Charles, Linda, and James Day, daughters-in-law, Brenda Arnold Day and Laura Rogers Day, and seven (7) grandchildren, Elisa Owens, Adam Doyle, Jonathan Day, Matthew Doyle, Shelby Day, Kyle Day, and Sam Doyle, and her only great granddaughter, Cadence Owens. She is also survived by her siblings, Rodrigo Botero, Marina Pardo, Amparo Castro, Fabiola Gutierrez, Mauricio Botero, Piedad Botero, several cousins, and her nieces and nephews, Jaime Botero, Luisa Schwartz, Juan Botero, Patricia Pardo-Molina, Luis Miguel Pardo, Carlos Pardo, Luis Enrique Pardo, Eliana Castro, Rocio Castro, Luisa Castro, Luz Amparo and Monica Gutierrez, Maria Lucia Younes, Maria Isabel Botero, Sylvia Salazar, David Salazar, Lisa Rickard, Sandy Simon, Toby Linck, Meghan Arnette, sister-in laws Maria Isabel Botero, Michael Arnette, and brother-in-law, Rodolfo Castro. Close to her heart were her former son-in-law, David Doyle, future son-in-law, Rick Icolari, and his daughters, Alyssa and Jessica Icolari, and many dear friends.
She is already greatly missed by many, and will be remembered with love by all she knew.
Visiting Hours are on Sunday, April 24, 2022, from 4 to 8pm at the Wm. A. Bradley & Son Funeral Home, 345 Main Street, Chatham, New Jersey, 07928. A Funeral mass will be held on Monday, April 25, 2022 at 10 am at St. Raphael’s Catholic Church, 346 East Mount Pleasant Ave., Livingston, New Jersey, 07039. Interment will follow at St. Gertrude Cemetery in Colonia, NJ. It will also be live-streamed on the Church’s and funeral home website.
