Jack Bailey

Jack Henry Bailey, age 89, of Erskine, Minnesota, passed away on Friday, December 6th. Funeral services will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, December 11th, at Grace Lutheran Church in Erskine, with a viewing for one hour prior to the service. Visitation will be held from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, December 10th, at the Carlin Funeral Home in Erskine. Interment will be in the Bailey Family Cemetery at a later date. Arrangements are with Carlin Family Funeral Service of Erskine and messages of condolence may be sent at www.carlinfuneral.com.Jack was born on February 23, 1930 in Erskine, to parents Robert and Margaret (Chandler) Bailey. He grew up in Erskine and graduated from Erskine High School in 1947.Jack entered the United States Air Force in November of 1948 and served in Japan and Korea during the Korean War. He received an honorable discharge in September 1952. After his military service, Jack graduated from the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks in February 1957 with a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering. Upon graduation Jack worked for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District. Jack and Oralee Janice Cain married on August 22, 1959 in St. Paul. In 1967 they moved to the North Shore near Duluth, Minnesota. While in the Duluth area, Jack worked as an engineer for the U.S. Economic Development Administration overseeing implementation of federally-funded economic development projects in a seven-state area. Examples include regional airports, municipal water and sewer infrastructure, tourism facilities, and industrial plants among others. In semi-retirement he worked as a self-employed construction estimator and subcontract estimator for many years. Simultaneously, over a 60 year period from 1959 he developed a successful campground/resort business from a small boat rental operation his father had started, the Union Lake Sarah Campground. In the 1980's Jack and Oralee moved back to Erskine and built a home on the long-time Bailey family land near Lake Sarah, where they lived for 25 years.Jack's lifelong love of hunting and fishing led to his civic involvement in forestry, conservation, and water quality concerns. Locally he volunteered for MNDNR and Rydell Wildlife Refuge. He and resort staff have collected water quality data at Lake Sarah for the DNR for over 30 years. Jack was an avid tree planter and coordinated the planting of several thousand trees. In his later years, he also enjoyed writing his memoirs and attending story-telling events. Jack was a man of few words but touched many with his gentle and self-deprecating humour and quick one-liner's.Jack and Oralee moved to Poplar Meadows in McIntosh in 2016 and Oralee passed away on March 12, 2019. Survivors include five children, Terry (Navin Mansaram) of New York, NY, Todd (Alex) of Cardiff, UK, Scott (Kimberly) of Asheville, NC, Kelly (Heidi) of Erskine, and Heather (Travis Marshall) of St. Peters, MO; six grandchildren, Kelton, Justus, George, William, Bennett, and Chandler; and one sister, Lucille Hansen of Everett, WA. Nieces, nephews and cousins also survive. He was preceded in death by his parents and four siblings: Edna, Robert, James, and Sarah.

Visitation

Tuesday, December 10, 2019 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Carlin Family Funeral Service
417 6th St. NE Fosston 56542, United States

Funeral Service

Wednesday, December 11, 2019 11:00 AM
Grace Lutheran Church
332 Vance Ave. Erskine 56535, United States