Dorothy Bailey

Dorothy Lee "Dot" Bailey, 90, passed away June 13, 2013, in Waco, after succumbing to cancer. Cremation services by Lake Shore Funeral Home. At Dorothy’s request, there will be a private interment at the Garden of Memories of the First Christian Church of Ruidoso, NM, at a later time.

Dorothy was born on December 13, 1922, to Lee. H. Tannahill Sr. and Evelyn (Burgoon) Tannahill in Ft Worth. She had been a 31 year resident of Ruidoso, NM.

She was educated at North Texas in Denton and later at TCU in Ft Worth. She married Bradford B. Bailey Sr., (a decorated Air Force pilot whose military career spanned 27 years including WWII, Korea, and Vietnam) in 1941. She served her country by sacrificing a "normal" life to be married to a military officer. "They also serve who stand and wait".

She was a dedicated school teacher and a piano teacher, as well as an accomplished musician.

Over the years, she was active in the churches where she was a member by serving as church organist. In more recent years, she was a Sunday school teacher and served as an elder in the First Christian Church of Ruidoso.

Dorothy was more of a doer than a talker. Rather than have a magnetic yellow ribbon on her car, she baked goodies and wrote letters to service personnel in Iraq. She sponsored a child (Save the Children) in Myanmar for many years. When the tidal wave of 2008 struck Myanmar and she didn’t hear from "her boy" for a few weeks , she wept until he was found to be safe.

Among her many volunteer services for her community (too many to list), since living in Ruidoso she served terms on the board of the Ruidoso Community Concert Association including terms as concert chair and president. She also volunteered at the Hubbard Museum of the American West, worked for the American Cancer Society as a counselor and to provide support for cancer patients, and at the Ruidoso Public Library up until she was 89 years old.

Dorothy was preceded in death in 1980 by her husband of 39 years, and career Air Force pilot, Bradford B. Bailey.

She is survived by her children, sons Brad Bailey Jr. and his wife Melinda of Huntsville, Bobby Bailey and his wife Gail of Ruidoso, NM and daughter Sheri Bailey of Ruidoso, NM; two grandsons Brad Bailey III of Houston, and Chad Bailey and his wife Amanda, also of Houston; granddaughter Jill Bailey of Ruidoso, NM; great-granddaughter Aeriss Bailey of Baltmore, MD; two sisters, Elizabeth Ann Stiles of Weatherford, and Bobbie Jane Harbuck of Waco; and her brother Lee H. Tannahill Jr. and his wife Sara of Stephenville.