Janet Rae Bailey

1933 - 2024

Janet (Jan) Rae Templeman Bailey passed away on January 20, 2024, in her sleep at her home in Denton, Texas. Janet was born May 5, 1933, in Colo, Iowa to Clyde Cliffton Templeman and Frances Viola Norton Templeman. She grew up in Colo and attended the public schools there, graduating as salutatorian from Colo High School in 1950. Jan attended Iowa State Teachers College (University of Northern Iowa) in Cedar Falls, Iowa and graduated with a two-year teaching certificate in 1952. She taught fourth grade in Osage, Iowa from 1952 to 1954.

Jan married Don Bailey on December 19, 1954, in the Colo Methodist Church. They moved to Kalona, Iowa where Jan taught fourth graders from 1955 through 1958, while Don commuted to the University of Iowa completing degrees. In 1958 they moved to Amarillo, Texas where Jan continued teaching in the public schools while Don also taught there. They moved to Denton, Texas in 1962 where they raised their two children, Chuck and Cliff, and Jan completed her bachelor's degree from the University of North Texas. In 1966 the family moved to Eugene, Oregon where Jan again taught fourth graders for two years while Don was completing another degree. They returned to Denton in 1968 and Jan continued raising their two sons and teaching fourth graders at Newton Razor Elementary School where she retired after 28 years of teaching fourth graders in Iowa, Oregon, and Texas.

After retiring from teaching, Jan volunteered for several years with the Meals on Wheels, Interfaith Ministries, and Habitat for Humanity. She has been a lifelong Methodist and member of First United Methodist Church in Denton for more than 50 years. She has served in many volunteer opportunities in this church. Jan has been a longtime student of our nation's founding, the Constitution, and the ongoing history of our country. Jan pursued her genealogy over the years and found that her heritage included memberships in the Society of Mayflower Descendants as a descendent of William Brewster and The Daughters of the American Revolution as a descendent of David Burr Paddock and James Hamersley, both Revolutionary War soldiers. She also found that her grandfather Templeman was a soldier in the Civil War from Illinois. Jan also lived through time that her brother Cliff served in the 101st and 82nd Airborne in World War II.

Jan loved nothing more in this life than her family. She is survived by her husband of 69 years, Don, and by her sons Charles (Chuck) Craig (Cheryl) Bailey and Cliffton (Cliff) Ray (Kim) Bailey; granddaughters Melynn (Stephen) Brown and Megan (Esteban) Gil; grandsons Chad (Danielle) Bailey, Craig (Angela) Bailey, and Carter (Kami) Bailey; great grandchildren Asher Bailey, AnnMarie Bailey, Beck Bailey, Sidney Kate Brown, Walker Ray Brown, Lucas Gil, William Nicolas Gil, and Gianna Bailey; sister-in-law Terri Bailey (the late Mike Bailey), and sister-in-law Charlotte Bailey, (the late Alan Bailey); niece Ann Templeman, and nephews David Templeman and Mark Templeman, cousins, nieces, and nephews. Jan is preceded in death in death by her parents, brothers Glen and Cliff and sisters Lillian and Ann.

A Committal Service will be held at First United Methodist Church in Denton, on March 16, 2024, at 10:15 AM, and followed by a Memorial Service at 10:30 AM in Cole Chapel.