John F. Bailey

 
Breckenridge American Newspaper – Date unknown
 
                John F. Bailey, 77, whose name was synonymous with Breckenridge schools, died early Thursday in Stephens Memorial Hospital. Mr. Bailey was connected with the Breckenridge Independent School District for 32 years before his retirement in 1953. He served three years as a high school teacher, 15 years as high school principal and 14 years as superintendent.
                Funeral services will be held at 4 p.m. Friday in the First Baptist Church with Rev. James Thomas, pastor, officiating. Breckenridge schools will dismiss at 3 p.m. Friday in his memory.
                Burial will be in Breckenridge Cemetery under the direction of Melton Funeral Home.
                Pallbearers will be Jim Wilkerson, Robert B. O’Brien, Lowell Cook of Abilene, Jim Rominger, Paul Williams and R.I. McArron. Honorary pallbearers will be members of the Roughneck Bible Class of the First Baptist Church and the Lions Club. A memorial fund in his memory will go to the First Baptist Church’s organ fund.
                Mr. Bailey died this morning at 12:35 a.m. He had been a patient in the hospital since Sept. 13 and recently underwent surgery in a Wichita Falls hospital.
                Survivors include his wife; three sisters, Mrs. Shaw Cunningham of Dallas, Mrs. C.A. King of Stephenville and Mrs. W.S. Johnson of Rusk; and two brothers, Robert E. of El Paso and Percy S. of Austin.
                Only recently it had been announced that the new school auditorium, on which bids will be let soon, would be named in Mr. Bailey’s honor. The local Future Teachers Association chapter also bears his name.
                Mr. Bailey was born July 1, 1890 in Fulton, Miss., the oldest of six children. In 1904, the Bailey family headed for Texas, his father in the family car loaded with all their possessions, and his mother and brothers and sisters on a train. Both of his parents were school teachers and also engaged in farming.
                The family settled in Rusk and Mr. Bailey graduated from high school and Rusk Academy there.
                His teaching career began before he even entered college. He taught for two years in Cherokee County before entering Baylor University where he received his degree in 1928. He got his education the hard way, throwing a newspaper route and selling fruit and vegetables to raise enough money.
                Later he attended the University of Texas and the University of Chicago and in 1931, 10 years after coming to Breckenridge, he earned his MA degree in chemistry with a minor in English at the University of Colorado.
                On his retirement, on doctor’s orders, Mr. Bailey said, “I have enjoyed every minute of it.” He said his years as high school principal were his happiest.
                Before coming to Breckenridge, Mr. Bailey taught school for two years at Strawn and Alvord. At Strawn he met and married the former Kate Hiltebran. The couple married Sept. 3, 1921, a Saturday, moved to Breckenridge the following Monday and started teaching Thursday.
                Mrs. Bailey taught English in high school until her retirement in 1959.
                When the Baileys came to Breckenridge, there were 250 high school students and 14 graduates the first year. During his administration here some 3,500 students graduated at B.H.S.
                He witnessed the local school system grow from several frame buildings to the many brick structures which composed the entire system on his retirement.
                In 1962 Mr. Bailey was given a life membership in the Texas Association of School Administrators. He was a former president of the Oil Belt Teachers Association and served as secretary of the Texas Principals Association.
                Mr. Bailey was past president of the Lions Club and was named a honorary lifetime director of the club. In 1963 Pete Shotwell, then district governor of Lions International, presented Mr. Bailey with a Master Key for outstanding work in bringing new members into the Lions Club. At that time Shotwell, a former Buckaroo coach, had been asked to be a member of the Lions Club by Mr. Bailey exactly 35 years before.
                Mr. Bailey was active in all phases of community activity. He was a director of the Chamber of Commerce and the YMCA, taught boys classes at First Baptist Church for many years, sang in the church choir, was superintendent of almost every department in his church at one time or another and active in the Roughneck Bible Class.

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