In Loving Memory...

Grandpa Bailey
Ronald Gene Bailey
March 16, 1954-November 15, 2010.

All because two people fell in love.
Ron and Paula were High School sweethearts. Ron had a '58 Chevy that they drove around in while they were dating. Ron joined the Air Force and they moved to California. Their love resulted in 8 children, 6 boys and 2 girls...and currently 10 grandchildren.

Ron's mother, Ardeth Bailey (Great Grandma Bailey) in 2002.

August 1, 2002. The day I joined the Bailey family. This is one of my favorite pictures from that day. I love how naturally I fit into the family and I was grateful for the immediate acceptance and love I felt from Ron and Paula. ***I remember the first time I met Ron. Ben and some of his friends had been talking about how scary Ben's dad is and they were telling me stories about how he had been gruff with some people who were not doing something that he wanted them to do...so needless to say I was nervous about meeting him. I can vividly recall walking up Ben's driveway, nervous to meet his dad...when Ron saw us, he stopped working on what he was working on and came over and gave me a huge hug and started talking to me. Within minutes he had us driving to the grocery store to buy steaks, apple salad ingredients and other food for dinner that night. We were buds from the start.***


Grandpa Bailey loved to spend time with the family, go camping and take pictures. He always had a camera or two hanging around his neck taking pictures of family. I think that there are boxes of pictures to go through at the house. Some of my favorite pictures from my wedding were taken by Ron.

Ron loved the holidays. He really enjoyed having the entire family together. I remember when we were first married he wanted us to stay over on Christmas Eve and watch movies and hang out. He always talked about watching Top Gun and hooking up the speakers so we could hear the boom booms.

Max's Eagle Scout Court of Honor. Grandpa Bailey was very involved in the scouting program and encourage all of his son's to complete their Eagle Scout Award. I know that he was very proud of his son's who worked hard to gain the rank of Eagle Scout. His daughters also completed their Personal Progress Young Women Recognition Awards.

Disneyland, November 2009. Ron and Paula took a trip over Thanksgiving to Las Vegas to see George and Linda and they also drove to southern California to San Diego and to Disneyland. They had a great time! Ron was just a kid...you can see that in this picture.


For Lydia: Grandpa loved the grand-babies. He loved to hold you, snuggle you and tickle you with his beard. I will never forget the night that we told Grandpa Bailey and Grandma Bailey that we were expecting Lydia. We drove in the Mustang Convertible and picked Paula up from her house, then we drove to Ron's work. Ron came out and talked with us for a while. Then Ron said, "Well, I better get back to work. I do not want my supervisor to get mad at me." Then Ben said, "Well, just tell him that you just found out that your daughter-in-law is pregnant." Ron said, "Really...all right!!!!!" and smiled so big. The smile on his is something I will never forget. Ron also called the entire family the next day to tell them the big news. He was very excited!


May 28,2010. Lydia's 1/2 Birthday Party! Grandma and Grandpa Bailey came to see Lydia eat rice cereal for the first time and help celebrate her first 6 months of life.


Bailey Family Camp out. June 2010.
This camping tradition was started about 7 years ago. Ron and Paula thought that celebrating their anniversary with the entire family on a camp out would be the best way to celebrate their anniversary. So, we started going camping as an entire family every year, the first weekend of June. We have been to various places and done various activities. It is fun to be together as a family, cook over a fire, watch the cousins play, swim, boat and just have fun.

I want Lydia to know that her Grandpa Bailey was a great man. He was a quiet observer during family activities, but he was always paying attention. He knew a lot about a lot of things. He loved cars and knew everything about cars. He loved going to car shows and car cruises. He loved going to swap meets and garage sales. He enjoyed hunting, fishing and camping. He was a hard worker and a very generous man. He spent many hours helping others and fixing cars for neighbors and friends, even though he had projects of his own that he wanted to work on. Grandpa loved Dr. Pepper and Kool-aid. (Although he did not drink a lot of Dr. Pepper the last few years of his life.) He loved Apple Salad, Eggs (from his chickens), and Chilli.
He fought a nasty cancer for 26 months; he worked and played through the pain of the cancer.

He loved Grandma Bailey and their eight kids, the in-laws and the grandchildren. Grandpa Bailey always had big plans for toys and play equipment in the yard for the grandchildren. I think he would have installed a roller coaster (next to the giant tire swing and tree swing) in the yard if he would have had one. One thing I have learned from the Bailey family is...Bailey's support each other. Whether it is at a sporting event, wedding, birthday party, baby blessing or piano recital...Bailey's show up in force to show their love and support.



One last goodbye kiss from Grandma Bailey.

We love you and we will miss you Grandpa Bailey.