Margaret A. Bailey, 89, a resident of Keene, N.H., from 1950 to 2005, and a frequent visitor to Sun Valley for months at a time during the past 30 years, died Sunday, Nov. 11, 2007, in Torrance, Calif., of heart failure.
Born Margaret Alice Schmitz in Whittier, Calif., on Oct. 5, 1918, she grew up on an orange ranch with walnut groves 14 miles from Los Angeles at a time when smog didn't exist. She loved the fresh fruits and vegetables of California even though she left them behind to teach elementary school in Boston. She married Howard A. Bailey, owner of Bailey Ford in Keene, after meeting him in Boston.
She studied art and education at Pasadena City College and always dreamed of a career in fashion design. Instead, she taught school starting first in California and gave her four children lessons in art after school and in the summer. Her many sculptures in raku clay and bronze as well as watercolor and oil paintings were the work of an accomplished amateur with professional gifts and are the proud possessions of her family. At Halloween, the costumes she made for her children were works of art and she often turned her seamstress skills to making clothes for them. She was a tireless worker in the house, the kitchen, on the tennis court and in the backyard.
Although somewhat shy, she was a loyal friend to many people and was especially beloved by her children who found in her unbounded compassion the understanding and wisdom of the best kind of mother. Her capacity for forgiveness was miraculous and throughout her life, her unflagging faith in God inspired those around her even when they didn't notice.
She is survived by her husband of 57 years, Howard Bailey, 87; two older sisters, Elizabeth Johnson, 96, and Mary Schmitz, 91, of La Mirada, Calif.; and four children, Howard A. "Chip" Bailey Jr., 56, of Sun Valley, Idaho, Susan Bailey, 54, of Sun Valley, Idaho, Dr. Jill Bailey, 52, of Venice, Calif., and Peter Bailey, 51, of Keene, and numerous nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her brother James Schmitz.
A funeral Mass will take place at St. Bartholomew's Church on Saturday, Dec. 1, 2007, in Long Beach, Calif., with urn internment in the Schmitz family plot at Calvary Cemetery in Los Angeles.
Donations in her memory can be made to the Animal Shelter of the Wood River Valley.
