George Bailey's Obituary
Funeral Service will be Saturday, June 26, 2021 at 10:00 am at Thomas Funeral Home in Corydon. Visitation will be Friday, June 25, 2021 from 5-8 pm at Thomas Funeral Home. Memorials may be given to the Bailey Construction Memorial Scholarship and can be mailed to 1874 150th St, Corydon, IA 50060. This scholarship will be awarded in George's honor to a Wayne County tradesman for carpentry, electrical, engineering or other trade. Condolences may be shared at www.thomasfh.com and at facebook.com/thomasfuneralhome.
George Raymond Bailey, 35, passed away peacefully on Saturday afternoon June 19, 2021, in Corydon, surrounded by his proud-filled family, listening to The Bus, 100.3, after a courageous and grit-filled #baileystrong comeback from a major brainstem and cerebellum stroke on December 26, 2020.
George, affectionately known as Georgie Porgie, Squirt, and George Raymond to name a few, was born on December 30, 1985 to Bungo and Joan Bailey (Hamm) in Reading, PA, completing the Bailey kids' perfect four. He was a fan favorite from the start with his big eyes, sweet demeanor, and big ass dimpled grin. George had a hug and a smile for everyone from the beginning, and if you were lucky enough to get past his quiet and ever observant persona, he'd have a thought-provoking observation or beyond detailed story to share with you that was bound to include, "If you will," or "Did you know?" and a tidbit or two that would make his eyebrows raise as he delivered the story or odd fact to you. If you really knew him, you knew, "His mouth moved faster than a duck's behind", to quote his late father, Bungo.
George attended preschool and kindergarten in Strausstown, PA before his parents moved him and his three older siblings to Iowa in 1993, the year of the floods. George graduated from Wayne Community High School with the class of 2004, and from an early age was a "motorhead" and "Sparky" working with Bungo in the barn on tractors or anything with a motor or with electrical parts and completing a work study in high school with Rae Dean at Rae's Auto Repair in Humeston. George was a natural tinkerer, and if it had a motor or electrical components, he was a natural at fixing it or making it better, no doubt one of this many natural talents he inherited from his late father.
George married his "hot blooded" love of his life, Amber Homann, October 13, 2012 in Corydon. They bought their homestead east of Corydon and loved hard with heartbreak with nine angelic babies before blessed with Reggie Chey's birth in August 2017 and then Nash Clarence in February 2019 after the loss of another angelic baby. George was a proud papa, and Reggie was a daddy's girl from the start, joining him to feed the chickens every night, one of George's many pets, who from an early age loved his poultry, be it ducks or chickens (can we forget his brother Charlie's ducks Donnie or Oscar, who George always wanted to be like?), his pups, and the many vagabond turtles he saved from the roadside or fish he catered to in his beloved aquarium, that like any particular PA Dutch German man, was very particular on how his aquarium was cleaned and maintained.
George from the earliest days looked up to his dad and big brothers, wanting to keep up with them; was his sister's little buddy and biggest supporter; and had a special bond with his mother, who he affectionately called, "Joanie Bologna." George made many friends over the years, and he endeared all he met. George had a way of doing that to everyone he met.
He was a jack of all trades, master of many, and from an early age, worked by his father's side. He poured concrete, built homes, and pointed brick with Bungo Construction and later under the wing of his big brother, Charles, for Bailey Brothers Construction. There wasn't a job George wouldn't do with his father or brother, Charles, and there wasn't a cow herd in later years that George wouldn't tackle with his brothers, Paul and Charles. He loved baling hay, and tinkering with old Fords, and was a natural farmer from his earliest of days with his love for the land and animals. And as the youngest of four, likely the bravest, never encountered a hill or gravel road not worth jumping or driving a bit too fast with a dirt bike or Bronco.
George had a special place in his heart for every in-law, every niece and nephew, and every sibling, and no greater place in his heart than for his beloved, Amber, and children Reggie and Nash. George loved hard; he was quiet, even when aggravated; craved his family from sunset to sundown; and he was quite simply, "The Man"; and whether a Busch Latte or cigarette in hand, you could be dang sure he was thinking too hard on someone or something he loved dearly.
Left to remember him is his secretly self-proclaimed "hot-blooded" wife, Amber Bailey (Homann); daughter, Reggie Chey and son, Nash Clarence; mother, Joan Bailey (Hamm); sister, Jenny Leonard (Bailey) and niece and nephew Faith and Eli of Norwalk, IA; brother and best friend, Charles Bailey (wife, Tasha) and nieces and nephew, the late Zoey, and Madeline, McKenna, and Drake of Promise City; brother and best friend, Paul Bailey (wife, Jill), and nieces, Refina and Claira of Promise City. He is preceded in death by his father, the late Bungo Bailey.
Many, many thanks to his care team at On With Life, Hospice team in Corydon, nursing staff of Wayne County Hospital, the congregations of Millerton Methodist and Allerton Presbyterian Churches, care coordinator Tasha Bailey, and all those friends who visited, encouraged, donated to and loved George and his family every step of every day. You are his family. You are his community. And he wanted to come home to you.
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