Alice I Bailey

Alice I. Bailey, 93, of Lewellen passed away Saturday afternoon November 3, 2018 at her home.

Memorial Services will be held at 10:00 a.m., Monday, November 19, 2018 at the Lewellen United Methodist Church with Pastor Janie Freeman officiating.  Private family burial in Ash Hollow will be held at a later date.   Her family requests that those attending the memorial service at the church be as “fragrance free” as possible.

Cremation has taken place and there will be no visitation at the funeral home.

Memorials in Alice’s name can be made to the United Methodist Church or charity of the donor’s choice.  The VOA in Lewellen and Lewellen Tiger Den were among those special to Alice.

Holechek-Bondegard Funeral Home and Cremation in Oshkosh is serving the Bailey Family.

Alice was born the third of nine children to Guy and Myrrel (Skinner) Sparks on February 11, 1925.  She was born on a farm south of Elsie, Nebraska where the family lived for a few years before eventually moving to a small farm south of Wallace, Nebraska.  She attended country school through the fourth grade, then attended Wallace Elementary and later Wallace High where she graduated in 1942.

She met her husband, Wayne F. Bailey, while working for her aunt, Opal Zimmerman, and Wayne’s uncle Ralph Zimmerman on their farm north of Big Springs, Nebraska and they were married in Ogallala, Nebraska on October 16, 1943.

They farmed and ranched south of Lewellen for 28 years, and during that time they also began farming and ranching near Watauga, South Dakota, commuting back and forth by car or plane, as Wayne was a pilot.

Wayne and Alice had one son, Michael born in 1945, and a daughter, Kathleen, born in 1955. The couple gained another daughter, Becky Fortune, a close cousin of Alice’s, in 1964.

In addition to cooking many meals for family and usually several additional people, employees or otherwise, Alice devoted time to many other interests.  In her early years, she taught herself to play piano “by ear”.  Later she and friend, Lou Coppersmith, would entertain with piano/clarinet duos.  She also played duets with friend, Lula Timm.  Alice used the costumes she collected while entertaining to produce beautiful yearly style shows to benefit the VOA preschool.  She and her sister, Ruth Hansen, also designed and produced complete Nativity costumes for the Sunday School children and high school MYF for the yearly Christmas programs.  She was a self-taught artist, mainly in oil and acrylic mediums and was a Charter Member of the Ash Hollow Art Club.  In addition, Alice was interested in genealogy and researched the family history and published a book about her father’s family called “Patchwork”. She also wrote several other family stories and poems.  She was an avid reader all of her life.  Alice loved flowers and gardening, and managed to have a beautiful yard on the farm and later, when the family moved to Lewellen in 1969 she cultivated a beautiful yard and perennial flower garden.

Alice loved to travel and was able to tour Europe and England as well as many states in the U.S. with her husband, Wayne, and other friends and family.

Alice had a strong faith in God, passed on to her by her mother, Myrrel.  She attended the United Methodist Church. 

Family was the most important priority in Alice’s life, caring for her mother in her later years and especially enjoyed her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  She loved spending as much time as possible with all of her family, cooking special meals and planning fun trips and activities with them.  She traveled to South Dakota to visit her son’s family as long as her health allowed, and spent lots of time with her daughter’s family in Oshkosh.  This past year she was treated to a visit by her only great-great-grandson.

Over her lifetime, Alice and Wayne touched many other young people’s lives who became her “adopted children and grandchildren”.  She always had an especially close relationship with her seven brothers and their families and her one sister and her family, especially her niece Janet Miller, who became her caretaker in later years.

Alice is survived by her son, Michael (Tomi) Bailey of Watuaga, South Dakota; daughters, Kathleen (Kent) Loyd of Oshkosh and Becky Fortune of Omaha; grandchildren, C.J. “Zeke” (Dena) Bailey of Watauga, Tamara (Matt) Cooper of Big Springs, Nebraska, Jesseca (Tom) Williams, Nathan (Liz) Loyd and Jared Loyd of Oshkosh, McKenzie (Jeremy) Broz and Cole (Amy) Hothan of Omaha; great-grandchildren, Austin (Ashley) Bailey, Summer (Mason) Steinmetz, Jett Bailey, Carson Bailey, Bailey Cooper, Kaylee Bell, Alyssa Williams, Sophie Williams, Chris Loyd, Abigail “Gracie” Loyd, Hudson Broz, Ella Broz, Jackson Broz, Mya Hothan, Ava Hothan and Ali Hothan; great-great-grandson, Weston Steinmetz; brothers, Stanley (Jane) Sparks of Louisville, Nebraska, LeRoy Sparks and David Sparks of Brule, Nebraska,  Gary (Ginger) Sparks of Oregon; sister-in-laws, Bonnie Sparks of Eagle, Nebraska, Greta Sparks of Arizona, and Vi Sparks of Plattsmouth, Nebraska;  brother-in-law Delbert Hanson of Brule; and all of her special nieces and nephews, many “adopted” kids and grandkids, and many special friends.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Wayne in 2005, parents, Guy and Myrrel Sparks, brothers, Lyle, L.J. “Joe”, and Glenn, sister, Ruth Hansen, and sister-in-law Ardis Sparks.