LESTER BAILEY

Lester Lee Bailey, 94, son of James Nicholas Bailey and Mary Vina Brown Bailey, was born March 4, 1908, at Eunice. He died July 2, 2002, at Lester E. Cox Medical Center North in Springfield. He married Fern Riley March 17, 1936, at Eminence. They had four children and celebrated 60 years of marriage by renewing their vows at the Roby Baptist Church. Mr. Bailey retired from the post engineers at Fort Leonard Wood in 1974 after 30 years in the federal service. He also worked on his farm at Evening Shade raising Hereford cattle. He loved to fish in his ponds and on the rivers and was an avid hunter for turkey and deer. He was preceded in death by his wife in 1996; his parents, three brothers and three sisters. Surviving are his four children, Freda Lindsay of Plato, Dale Bailey of Honolulu, Hawaii, Gary Bailey of St. Peters and Mary McElfresh of Troy; one brother, Walter Bailey of Lebanon; five sisters, Blanch Barnes of Summersville, Maxine Gregory of Lebanon, Lorene Halstead of Richland and Reva Lanning and Loretha Hubbs of St. Louis; two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Services were July 6 at the Roby Baptist Church with the Rev. Weldon Foreman and the Rev. Brock Davis officiating. Burial was in the Pine Lawn Cemetery under the direction of Evans Funeral Home of Houston. “