On a cool day in mid November, 1916, after the harvest was completed, Martha Harbin Bailey gave birth on the family farm to her third child, a gangling boy they inexplicably named Essel. He was to be an important member of the family and one who went North to make his fortune. Essel William Bailey was born on November 13, 1916 and died January 27, 2015, celebrating his 98th birthday only 2 months ago with a bevy of relatives, Baileys, McClanahans and other friends in attendance, as was his second wife Juanita and her family. First married in 1941 to Ethel Linville Bailey, whose family lived on a nearby Tennessee farm, he and Ethel, who predeceased him in 2007, had four children and raised them in Michigan where Essel made his way in the industrial North. He first worked in a tire factory for what is now BF Goodrich and then returned to his roots as a farmer, building a business in the landscaping arena, drawing on his hard experience in agriculture, at one time operating nursery sod farms totaling 750 acres in Michigan. He worked hard with his wife and family as helpers, as do all farmers, and his business prospered. Theirs was a 65 year marriage, and besides the highlight of 4 children, included travel around the world for a year during the early 1970’s, where he visited local Rotary chapters and his wife, Ethel, a kindergarten teacher, visited local schools and assessed early elementary education programs in places like Iran, Turkey and Thailand. Essel served in WW II and landed on Normandy Beach in late June 1944. During his absence in service, his wife Ethel, who stayed with her family in Tennessee during his service, gave birth to his first child, Essel Jr. His other children, James, Amanda Diane and David, who all survive, were born in Michigan and grew up there. With the help of his wife Ethel and their emphasis on education, they supported each of the children through first rate high schools, college and graduate schools, where they earned numerous advanced degrees and went on to have their own kids, his grandchildren, who in turn produced his 2 great grandchildren whom he was able to meet only two months before his death. Throughout their time in Michigan, he and Ethel regularly returned to Tennessee and Alabama, and maintained family ties and connections with the local community, where his seven siblings and Ethel’s seven siblings lived and raised families. They returned to Alabama in retirement in 2006 where his wife Ethel died in 2007. In 2008, he married Juanita Johnson Bailey and they enjoyed a full and supportive life together, visiting their respective families with Juanita the solid chauffer and once traveling for 6 weeks by train across the country to visit their respective children in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Massachusettes, Michigan, Colorado and Alabama. He is to be buried in Oak Grove Cemetery in Tennessee, not far from the graves of his parents, and those of his family. Serving as pallbearers will be his son David Bailey and grandsons Essel III, James, Thomas, Robert and John Bailey. He leaves behind an important testament to the power of hard work, persistence and the importance of family and education. In addition to his wife Juanita and his four children (and their spouses respectively, Menakka, RoAnn, John and Alison) and their children (Essel III, Justin, Nicholas, Emma, James, Thomas, Robert and John), his is survived by his stepchildren, Susan Zickos, Sharon Ramsey, Pam Brooks and Bill Akins, and their children; and his nephews Tommy, Johnny, Othel and Mac McClanahan and his nieces Martha Bowen and Orpha Cox. The family requests that in lieu of flowers, contributions in his honor be made to Cranbrook Schools C/O the Office of Development and Alumni Relations, PO Box 801, Bloomfield Hills, MI 48303.
Services:
Service at 11:30 AM at Spry~Williams Funeral Home on Friday, January 30th, 2015
