Kate Pickens Day was born on February 20, 1894, in Weaverville, North Carolina. Day graduated from Weaver College in 1913, and went on to teach in various public schools for five years before her marriage to Ben T. Day in Easley, North Carolina. Among her many accomplishments Day established Easley's first Woman's Club, wrote a weekly column in the local newspaper, and kept the books for her husband's business. After her husband's death, Day published a private genealogy of the Pickens family. The result of this extensive genealogy was the fictional book, Only When They're Little: The Story of an Appalachian Family. Day passed away at ninety years of age in 1984.