Mary Alleen Baker Bailey Obituary (1923 - 2012)

Beloved mother, wife, grandmother, friend and teacher, Mary Alleen Baker Bailey passed away on February 10, 2012 at the age of 88. Mary was born on June 15, 1923 in Ogden, Utah to Clarence Edwin and Carrie Rosina Baker but was raised in Tooele, Utah and later in Salt Lake City. She was a graduate of East High School and later the University of Utah in Microbiology. On February 14 of 1944 in the middle of World War II, she married Melvin Joseph Bailey, a U.S. army pilot at the time, and was his faithful and loving wife for over 56 years until he passed away on October 11, 2000. Together they had five children. She was a most loving and conscientious mother who believed that the greatest contribution we can pass onto the world is to raise good people and good citizens of our great country. She taught us right and wrong with firmness, fairness, and sometimes a flyswatter. Through her own example, she taught us to always look for the good in others and to serve and help those in need. She believed in us even when we screwed up and was loyal and protective to a fault. Growing up, our home was a haven for our friends and always seemed to be full of kids of all agesa"day and night. They loved her homemade bread, her warm laughter, and her kindness. As a lifelong learner and with the need to contribute to our family's finances, Mary, five kids in tow, headed back to college at BYU to get her teaching certificate in order to teach high school in Eureka, Nevada. After teaching there for three years, she also got her elementary certificate and later taught 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade in Cantua Creek, California and Gabbs, and Pahrump, Nevada. She related equally well with high school and elementary aged students. The genuine love and concern she felt for her students was reciprocated by them many-fold. She retired as a second grade teacher in 1990 while living in Pahrump, Nevada. Not only a great educator who produced superior results academically with her students, she also had a great sense of humor that has served her well not only as a teacher but throughout her life. Many is the student and child who will remember Mrs. Bailey threatening to beat them "with a wet noodle" or when asked what she was doing replying "mildewing". Mary and her husband loved good literature and great music and were connoisseurs of these pursuits all their lives. Mary was also a health "nut" who not only studied health voraciously but actively helped family and friends alike with health issues. Some of her favorite sayings were "Sugar kills" and "the whiter the bread, the sooner you're dead". Mary was a proud convert to the LDS faith who held many callings throughout the rest of her life. She was truly a disciple of Christ who epitomized love and caring for others in all aspects of her life. Always a woman of courage, she dealt with difficult financial times, raising 5 children, cancer, and succumbing to the perils of old age with the same grace, dignity, kindness, and humor. She will be greatly missed by all who knew her. Mary is preceded in death by her parents, Clarence and Carrie Baker, her sister, Carol Hoskisson, and her husband, Melvin Joseph Bailey. She is survived by her five children; Sherri Palmer of Farmington, Utah, Joe Bailey and wife Tina of South Jordan, Utah, Teresa Wilson and husband Ross of Fernley, Nevada, Shawn Bailey and wife Libby of LaSalle, Illinois, and Carol Comins and husband, Dan of Cary, North Carolina. She is also blessed and survived by 16 grandchildren and 22 great-grandchildren. The family wishes to express their sincere thanks and love to the staff of Barton Creek and South Davis Hospice for their kind and loving care of Mary in her final days. We feel she was truly loved and cared about by the wonderful caregivers in these facilities. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to South Davis Hospital Campus which includes Barton Creek Assisted Living and South Davis Hospice. Funeral HomeMyers Mortuary of Layton 250 N. Fairfield Rd. Layton, UT 84041