Obituaries: Penelope Elizabeth Dickerson Bailey, 1961, Winn Parish, LA Submitted by Greggory E. Davies, 120 Ted Price Lane, Winnfield, LA 71483 ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** From: March 2, 1961 Winn Parish Enterprise Final Rites For Mrs. B. W. Bailey Held February 27 Three weeks from the time of her husband's passing, Mrs. B. W. Bailey gave up her brave spirit in a room at a local hospital which her husband had previously occupied with her. They had been married almost seventy years. With hearts and minds so closely knit together in this long and happy companionship, maybe they could not have endured a further separation. Both she and her husband had been ill for a long time. Perhaps death was a blessed release, however grievous for the loved ones left behind. Mrs. Bailey died at five thirty p.m., Feb. 25, 1961. Funeral services, in charge of the Southern Funeral Home, were conducted at the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which she had been a life member and a devoted supporter. The officiating ministers were the Reverend Porter M. Carroway of Shreveport and Reverend R. H. Staples, her pastor in Winnfield. There was soft music preceding the service. The church was artistically decorated with pink and white flowers and there was a beautiful spray of pink carnations on the casket. Mrs. Hiram Wright sand, "In The Garden," one of Mrs. Bailey's favorite hymns. The pallbearers were Holmes Harris, Dudley Shell, Newton Forrest, J. R. Harrison, Troy Smith, W. J. Austin, Maxwell Crowe, and Willie Gaar. Interment was in the Winnfield Cemetery beside her husband. Mrs. Bailey's passing, like that of her husband, closed a colorful and extremely active life in the best American pioneer tradition. Penelope Elizabeth Dickerson was born in a spacious home on a road which turns off to the left this side of the Dugdemonia Dike. Her parents were Mary Margaret Jackson and John Joseph Dickerson. Mrs. Bailey was the last surviving member of a family of four sisters and two brothers. Mrs. Maggie Hall, who passed away only two months before Mrs. Bailey, was next to last to go. Miss Clara Brian, a niece of Mrs. Bailey, who as a little girl of four was present at the Bailey's wedding, has given us some very interesting details. They read like a chapter out of our Louisiana pioneer days. There was no space in the large "L" dining room for the host of friends and relatives who must be seated at the bounteous wedding supper so a long shed was built, connecting with the "smokehouse" and a trestle table some forty feet long was erected. This was covered with white tablecloths, decorated with flowers, and heaped with such lavish supplies of delicious food as is seldom, if ever, seen in these degenerate days of inflation and high prices. There were bakes hams, turkeys, wild game, sweet pickles, cakes, pies, home made breads of many varieties. The coffee to wash down this collation was made in washpots out of doors and the festive scene was lighted with bonfires. This was called the "Infare Dinner." For the ceremony the bride wore a gown of white cashmere, elaborately trimmed with lace. The celebration lasted far into the night. And next day the happy couple logged over rough roads eight miles to the groom's family for another wedding feast. Mrs. Bailey was a lifelong member of the Winnfield Methodist Church. Her father donated virgin pine lumber to construct the first building, on the site where the present beautiful brick church now stands. Both Methodists and Baptists used the building and later it was also used during the week as a schoolhouse. Throughout her long life, Mrs. Bailey was devoted heart and soul to her church and nothing was ever too good to use in its service, and the service to God. She was a charter member of the Women's Society of Christian Service; also a life member of that guild. Her mother had a life membership, presented by her husband and three friends, in the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. This scroll was printed in Memphis, Tenn., and bears the date "1859." Mrs. Bailey was president of the "Daughters of Wesley" Bible Class for almost forty years. During World War I, the members of the class each bought a chair with which to furnish their room. Mrs. Bailey was a member of the building committee for the present church. She served as chairman of the parsonage committee for many years and signed the notes for the pews for he new church at that time. Money was scarce then and the women of the church paid the money back by serving banquets and dinners for various organizations, the Rotary Club in particular. When the new church was built Mrs. Bailey requested that spaces be left on the altar rail for flowers, promising that flowers would be placed there each Sunday. And that promise was faithfully kept. There are two memorial windows in the present church in memory of her parents. And she was an active member of the choir until failing health overtook her. Mrs. Bailey was also a charter member of the Winnfield Eastern Star and served as Worthy Matron. As owner and mistress of the once famous "Comrade Hotel,", she dispensed the brand of hospitality for which the South is justly famous. And "drummers" who enjoyed the Hotel's immaculate cleanliness and Mrs. Bailey's wonderful food rose up and called her blessed. In the early days of the hotel she served sumptuous meals for twenty-five cents each! With home made breads, rolls and luscious desserts, usually prepared by Mrs. Bailey herself. One trembles to think what such a meal would cost now! While her husband was sheriff, she assumed the entire management of the hotel; also had all meals served to the prisoners in the local jail. And she still found time to give many happy parties for her daughter, the present Mrs. Leary Rickerson, and the niece, Miss Celeste Brian, who then lived with them. The hotel was a kind of center where young people could congregate and have a good time, sans liquor and other injurious indulgences which are often a curse to young people today. In the hotel parlor or lobby there were usually hot games of dominoes of forty-two in progress, and nobody drank anything stronger than coffee or lemonade. A horse-drawn bus with seats along the side met all the trains and conveyed guests, sometime through deep sand and mud, to the hotel. And in the lobby, the parrot mascot greeted old friends with raucous cries of welcome. There was no running water in the rooms and pitchers had to be filled from a tank. Once a pet coon got loose and amused himself by drinking a little water out of each pitcher. There were no paved streets in Winnfield in those days. The first five miles of paved highway in Winn Parish began at Dugdemonia Bridge and extended through town to where the Brewton and Norman homes now stand on Maple Ave. Mrs. Bailey was a woman of almost superhuman energy and a sunny, cheerful disposition which never failed her during her long and trying illness. All her life she worked hard and expected other people around her to work too. After the hotel burned and the Baileys moved into the present home on St. John Street, she not only helped with the planting and beautification of the grounds, she also managed a sizable greenhouse, grew the finest ferns, geraniums, etcetera, in town. And she actually built with her own hands a small brick utility house toward the rear and a fishpond in the yard. She remained amazingly active during her long illness and never lost her great love for people and her joy in being with them. At the Bailey home you could always be sure of the warmest of welcomes. She radiated vitality and good cheer as few people can, because not many people have such superabundances of energy and upwelling joy in just being alive. No, nor such an abiding faith in God and a desire to be of use to her fellow creatures. In a nation where easy divorce, almost one out of every three marriages ending in shipwreck, is becoming an ever graver problem, it is good to look back on a happy marriage that lasted for almost seventy years. If we had millions more of the same kind, we could look more hopefully toward the future of our country. Mrs. Bailey is survived by one daughter, Mrs. Leary Rickerson; and as one of her nieces puts it, "a host of adoring nieces and nephews." Also a number of great nieces and nephews and even a few great-great nieces and nephews. Out of town relatives who attended the funeral of Mrs. B. W. Bailey in Winnfield, February 27, were Mr. and Mrs. Chris Bailey, Mr. and Mrs. G. L. Wyatt, of St. Maurice; Mr. and Mrs. R. L. Brady, Mr. and Mrs. V. Barnes, Mr. and Mrs. Gus Ferguson, Atlanta; Rev. P. M. Carraway, Mr. and Mrs. W. T. Brian, Miss Clara A. Brian, Shreveport; Mr. and Mrs. Ben F. Brian, Alexandria; Mrs. H. A. Carpenter, Moorehead, Miss.; Mrs. Mary C. Anderson, Leland, Miss.; Mrs. F. P. Sullivan, Cleveland, Miss.; Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Audibert, Mrs. Juanita Remee, Montgomery; Mrs. Clarence Tannehill, Urania, La.; and Mr. and Mrs. L. P. Ellwood, Ruston.