Joseph T. Bailey

Joseph (Joe) Bailey passed away on September 15, 2025 after a brief illness. Joe is survived by his wife of 63 years, Cora Faye (Faye), children Anne (Aline Lindbeck) and Michael (Caroline) Bailey, grandchildren Samuel and Elizabeth Bailey, and brother Carl C. Bailey Jr. He is preceded in death by parents Gertrude and Carl C. Bailey Sr. and infant son Christopher.

Joe was born October 16, 1937 in Clemson, South Carolina. He obtained BS (1959) and MS (1960) degrees in ceramic engineering from Clemson University and served in the Army ROTC. Joe was commissioned a Lieutenant in the US Army Ordnance Corps in 1960 and was stationed at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama with the US Army Ballistic Missile Agency. It was there that Joe met his beautiful sweetheart, Faye, and they wed in 1962.

In 1962, Joe took a position in ceramic engineering at the American Lava Corporation, a subsidiary of 3M based in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and started off a successful and rewarding 38-year career with 3M. After a hiatus to obtain his Ph.D. in ceramic engineering from Ohio State University (1966), Joe and Faye returned to Chattanooga to raise their family. In 1974, Joe was transferred to 3M headquarters in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he and Faye quickly learned to adapt to cold and snowy winters. They embraced Minnesota outdoor life by buying a snowmobile for the winter and a speed boat for the summer. Joe loved working for 3M, his long career culminating in Vice President of R&D for the Industrial and Consumer Sector. He traveled the world on business, claiming that he could order a beer in at least 5 languages, and his colleagues saying that he would “eat anything, anytime, anywhere”.

After Joe retired in 2000, he and Faye moved into their dream home on beautiful Lake Keowee near Clemson. He loved taking people out for boating cruises or towing his grandkids around the lake, working in his garden, visits with family and family reunions, and attending Clemson Tigers football games. Joe served on several advisory boards at Clemson University and was a member of the Thomas Green Clemson Academy of Outstanding Engineers and Scientists. Joe and Faye returned to Minnesota in 2022 to be close to their daughter Anne. Joe was active until the end, enjoying going out to dinner, exercising at the gym, taking loving care of Faye in memory care, and enjoying reconnecting with old friends and making new ones.

A Celebration of Life service will be held October 27, 2025 at 1:00 PM at Duckett-Robinson Funeral Home, Central, South Carolina. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Alzheimer's Association or American Heart Association.