Louis Ray Bailey Obituary (1925 - 2019)

Augusta-Louis Raymond (Ray) Bailey, 93, passed away March 25th at The Maine Veteran's Home in Augusta. Born June 29, 1925 in Waterbury CT, the son of Frederick Starr Bailey and Marie (Lena Ducharme) Bailey, he was an industrious and energetic boy, playing sports for and graduating from Leavenworth High School of Waterbury, CT. As a young man, he enlisted in the US Navy (WWII) and served as a 2nd class Gunner's mate at a Submarine Repair Base in Freemantle, Western Australia. He also worked on a submarine chaser, preparing submarines for their return to patrol duty. In 1944, he met Anita Ashman at a town hall dance in Perth W.A. They kept company for the rest of his tour in Australia. After being discharged from active duty, he returned to Waterbury, Connecticut to work for the Mill supply division of the Bristol Company. He also attended Kaynor Technical School and studied Mechanical Engineering. In 1949, he and Anita re-united and married in Waterbury, CT. When she landed in port, he had to sign papers, vowing to marry her within six months. He kept his promise. During the Korean War, Ray was called back into the Navy. He and Anita were based in San Diego CA, where Ray served on the destroyer USS Pickering DD 685 for two years. By 1958, with three children, they returned to Perth, W.A. for two years. Upon their return to the United States in 1960, now with four children, Ray joined the Professional Service of the Boy Scouts of America. For the next twenty-four years (and one more child), he worked in the Scouting profession in Connecticut, New Hampshire, New Jersey and Maine. He shared his love of the outdoors with his family. His children got to run wild at scout camps, swimming, boating, fishing, practicing archery, shooting skeet, and later, mountain climbing. Ray took the family camping, cooking peach cobbler in a pit of coals, and hiking in the White Mountains. He took the five children skiing on weekends, Anita, packing sandwiches and left to her quiet day at home. In 1984, Ray retired from the BSA and became the first full-time Maintenance Director at Mechuwana, the United Methodist Church Camp in Winthrop, Maine, a position he held until he retired in1991. In January of 1992, he and Anita traveled around the world, from California, to Hawaii, to Fiji, New Zealand, Australia, England, and back home to the USA, where they settled in Rockland Maine. Both Ray and Anita were very active church leaders in Rockland's Pratt Memorial and then Aldersgate United Methodist Church. A skilled and generous handyman, Ray's work is apparent throughout each church. He also built many projects for his family and went to help re- build in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina when he was in his early eighties. Ray is pre-deceased by his wife, Anita Mildred Bailey and his Sister, Ann Boland of Waterbury CT. He is survived by his five children, Gordon R. Bailey, and his wife, Lyndall Kazmarzyk, Ian J. Bailey, and his wife, Laura Nugent, Roberta R. Bailey and her husband, Robert Lemire, Deborah A. Bailey and her companion, Dave MacDonald, and Kimberly J. Bailey Shaw and her husband, John Shaw as well as ten grandchildren, Jenny Rae Bailey, Talia Nell Bailey, Benjamin Bailey, Isak and Hilary Ziegner, Stephen and Ian Grima, and Sam, Julia and Alexander Shaw. Ray's family is incredibly grateful to the Maine Veteran's Home staff and the Maine General Hospice Caregivers for their remarkable devotion and care. And for their love and appreciation of Ray. No memorial service is planned. Please consider honoring Ray Bailey's memory by donating funds to help young folk experience camping. Make donations to: Camp Mechuwana, the Bailey Family Fund, P.O.Box 377, Winthrop, ME. 04364 Arrangements are by Staples Funeral and Cremation Care, 53 Brunswick Ave., Gardiner where condolences, memories and photos may be shared with the family on the obituary page of our website: familyfirstfuneralhomes.com