Laura Daye, a valued community member, matriarch, and the widow of professional boxer and African Nova Scotian activist Delmore “Buddy” Daye, has died at the age of 90.
The former teacher and mother of nine passed away from natural causes in a Halifax-area hospital on Monday.
“It’s kind of like saying goodbye to a legacy,” said Leslie Daye, the couple’s daughter, in an interview.
Laura was born and raised in Digby County, which is where she first met Buddy while he was there for a visit decades ago.
“The story is that mom told daddy when she was a little girl, ‘I’m going to marry you one day, Buddy Daye,’” said Leslie, adding with a laugh: “Mom staked her claim a long time ago.”
Laura was the youngest of 17 children and her mother died when she was just a toddler.
“Mom always had a certain sadness and a certain longing for a mother’s love, because she was only two when her birth mother passed,” said Leslie, who added that a silver lining of her death is that she “finally gets to meet her mother.”
Any love Laura lost from not knowing her own mother was bestowed upon her own nine children, said Leslie.
“Mom was very, very loving and affectionate when we were younger,” said Leslie, adding that she was “infamous for her big kisses.”
As they grew older, Laura took on more of a disciplinarian role, ensuring her kids didn’t get into trouble. “Strict, but in a good way,” said Leslie.
Laura was also heavily involved in the Cornwallis Street Baptist Church — now known as the New Horizons Baptist Church — where she sang in the choir for more than 45 years.
Leslie said she will continue to stay involved in the church community in honour of her mother.
A ‘lot of love’
Many Nova Scotians are likely familiar with Buddy Daye, who died in 1995. He was a celebrated professional boxer and the province’s first African Nova Scotian sergeant-at-arms. There is now a Halifax learning institute and a street named after him.
But Laura preferred to live outside of the public eye, working in the background to raise their children and give them the best lives she could.
There was a “lot of love” in the household, said Leslie.
“Mom and daddy were very close, and mom enjoyed our family time and our laughter,” she said.
After Buddy’s death, Laura continued to stay out of the spotlight, though she often told her children in private that she missed her husband.
“They would interview her in public about my father’s legacy, she would just say, ‘I had a good husband and I wish he was still here with me,’” said Leslie. “That’s about all you could really get out of her.”
In her final years, Laura had been living at the Northwood long-term care home in Halifax. She was moved to the hospital over the weekend when she wasn’t feeling well.
Leslie, along with other members of their large family, spent some time with her during her short hospitalization and got to say goodbye on Monday morning.
“She opened her eyes and she looked right at me,” said Leslie.
“I leaned down, and she said, ‘I want to say thank you.’ And of course, the tears came, I just bawled.
“I said, ‘Mom, you don’t have to thank us. Thank you, you were a good mother. You were a very good mom for all of us.’”
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