“Barbara was very generous woman,” said Amanda Bennett, coordinator of the Miami County Master Gardeners program through the OSU Extension Office. Bailey previously partnered with Miami County Master Gardeners in 2013 and 2015, giving a walking tour to more than 60 guests on the wooded private property during the latter partnership.
“Her property has (hundreds) of trees that are rare and unusual, and the volunteers were able to come away with so much knowledge they could then share in the community,” Bennett said.
The Barboretum is home to a variety of deciduous trees and conifers. In 2015, Bailey said the trees were selected from nurseries locally along with those in Oregon and the Chicago and Cleveland areas.
“The Miami County Master Gardener Volunteers appreciated Barbara for her kindness and her generosity to share her love of trees and knowledge with future generations,” Bennett said.
Credit: Lisa Powell
Credit: Lisa Powell
Bailey was also known as a world traveler, visiting approximately 110 countries in her lifetime. The Troy-Hayner Cultural Center previously featured an exhibit that included her journals and photographs from her travels in 2011. About 40 of Bailey’s photographs in that exhibit featured people in countries like India, Iran, Iraq, Nepal, Burma, Madagascar, Vietnam, Kenya, and Mongolia.
Bailey’s travels also found her in “faraway jams,” her obituary said, including in war zones like Cambodia and Peru. Other countries included Sudan, Mali, and the Central African Republic. Her final trip in 2019 was to Afghanistan.
“If you found yourself shipwrecked on a deserted island, you would want Barbara to be on your boat,” Bailey’s family said in her obituary. “A clever problem solver, she found satisfaction in conquering tricky situations. Her technical, inventive, bright, and practical mind served her well throughout life.”
Bailey was the first woman to graduate from Ohio University’s college of engineering, her obituary said. Her first job was with the Ohio State University at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, with the program now known as the Air Force Institute of Technology. It was there that she met Kenneth L. Bailey, her obituary said, who would be her husband for 46 years. He died in January 2008, according to his obituary.
Bailey was an award-winning author, as well as both a patent and copyright holder, her obituary said. She is survived by her children Heather and Grant, their spouses Frank and Lisa, and her grandchildren Connor, Quentin, and Brooke.
A celebration of life for Bailey will be held at 3 p.m. on Nov. 30 at the Troy Country Club, 1830 Peters Rd., Troy.
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