Charles Bailey

March 30, 2016

Charles F. Bailey, 89, of Bainbridge, Ga., passed away Wednesday, March 30, 2016.

The funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, April 2, 2016 at First Baptist Church in Bainbridge with Rev. Stanley Phillips officiating. Interment will follow at Oak City Cemetery with Charles “Bo” Bailey, Brockett Vola, Spencer Smith, Kyle Staples, Van Bailey, and Jason Priest serving as active pallbearers. Bainbridge High School FFA Officers will serve as honorary pallbearers.

The family will receive friends from 6 to 8 p.m. on Friday, April 1, 2016 at Ivey Funeral Home. Online visitors may sign the guest register at www.iveyfuneral.com.

Memorial donations may be made to Bainbridge High School FFA, 1 Bearcat Boulevard, Bainbridge, GA 39819.

Mr. Bailey was born June 22, 1926 in Cumming, Ga., the son of Oscar Samuel Bailey and Hattie Jurell Bannister Bailey, the youngest of ten children. He was a graduate of Dooly County High School, Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, and the University of Georgia. He served his country in the United States Army during World War II.

While some people are legends in their own rights, Mr. Bailey was a legend to many students and their parents all over the southeast, molding young men and women wherever he went. He taught at Colquitt County High School and retired from the Vocational Ag Department at Bainbridge High School after serving for years as the Young Farmer Director. Mr. Bailey helped lay the foundation for a successful Young Farmer program in the state of Georgia. He received numerous accolades and awards, including Decatur County Ag Man of the Year and GA Vocational Ag Instructor of the Year among many others related to his passion for agriculture. Mr. Bailey also served as President of Georgia Vocational Ag Teachers Association. He was a humble man who simply enjoyed working with his cattle. Mr. Bailey loved his family more than anything. Most any person involved in agriculture in Decatur County had Mr. Bailey’s hand on their life and felt like part of his family. It has been said, “Mr. Bailey tore down many boys and built many men.”

Survivors include his children, Dr. Charles Clifford Bailey and his wife, Cindy, of Bainbridge and Stella Bailey Vola and her husband, Dr. Timothy Vola, of Tallahassee; and his grandchildren, Brockett D. Vola and his wife, Laura, of Chicago, IL, Ash Bailey Smith and her husband, Spencer, of Tallahassee, Brock Bailey and her fiancé, Kyle Staples, of Macon, and Charles D. “Bo” Bailey of Bainbridge. Mr. Bailey was preceded in death by his parents, his wife, Fredonia Brockett Bailey, and his siblings Fred Bailey, Joe K. Bailey, Lee Bailey, Wilson Bailey, Ray Bailey, Mae B. Flournoy Collier, Lena Hughes, Annie Barry, and George Bailey.