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Submitted: 1/18/23 • Approved: 1/18/23 • Last Updated: 1/21/23 • R556463-G0-S3
January 13, 1930 - April 6, 2020
*Photo courtesy of Greg Harper
*Obituary
Gordon Francis Bailey, Sr., 90, a longtime Fort Worth, Texas resident, died on Sunday, September 6, 2020, following a brief illness. He was born on January 13, 1930, in New Orleans, Louisiana, the first born of Gordon Cabene Bailey and Lillian Hahn Bailey. He attended Mater Dolorosa parish school, St. Aloysius Academy, and Louisiana State University, where he was a member of the LSU Tigers football team. 'Tusk,' as he was known in those days, played on the offensive line that blocked for future NFL Hall of Famer, Y.A. Tittle. He obtained his CPA while studying at Texas Christian University. He met Katherine Rerecich in Vicksburg, Mississippi, and they married on November 12, 1949; they remained married for the next 70 years. Gordon's lifelong career began as a service cashier at Pontchartrain Motors on Poydras Street in New Orleans. As he grew in responsibility with the company, he was transferred to Fort Worth, where he worked as controller at Jack Williams Chevrolet. In 1970, he purchased Holiday Lincoln-Mercury on Forest Park Boulevard. Over the next 20 years, he acquired dealerships in Hurst, North Richland Hills, New Orleans, Alabama, Wichita Falls and Colorado. An intensely private man, he was nevertheless extraordinarily generous, and helped countless people in myriad ways, from jobs to financial assistance, to oftentimes simple good advice. He was never one to discuss or reveal how he assisted the many lives he touched. He loved walking and staying active, and would often spend Sunday afternoons walking his property in Wise County, enjoying the peace of that beautiful country. Gordon was a man of prodigious intellect and great curiosity, and he possessed a most fertile imagination. He was a voracious reader throughout his life, enjoying fantasy works from J.R.R. Tolkien and Mary Stewart, to the western genre of Louis L'Amour and Zane Grey, to the thrillers of Preston and Child, and even the macabre of Lovecraft. When his eyesight failed him in the later years, he transitioned to Books on Tape and would spend hours with his headphones on, listening to the taped novels. He was a natural storyteller, delighting every generation with family stories and invented tales. He had a wonderful and infectious sense of humor. One of his greatest legacies is the wealth of happy memories that his children and grandchildren will treasure all their lives. He was survived by his wife of 70 years, Katherine Rerecich Bailey; children, Janice, Katherine, and Joseph; daughter-in-law Susan; 12 grandchildren; 21 great-grandchildren; and three great-great-grandchildren; his sisters, Mary and Marvel; numerous nieces and nephews, and Aunt Marvell Porte. He was preceded in death by his parents; his son, Gordon F. Bailey Jr.; and brother, Michael Aldridge Bailey. Funeral Mass was celebrated at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, 12 September, at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church, Richland Hills, followed with burial at Bourland Cemetery in Keller.
Contributed on 1/18/23 by hennagins
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Record #: 556463