John Victor Bailliet

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “It is not length of life, but depth of life” and Jean Victor Pierre Bailliet had a very deep, rich life that touched so many. At 81, on December 31, 2021, he succumbed to prostate cancer, but not until after a battle waged for over 25 years. Jean, whom many later knew as “John”, was a fighter, and this was evident in so many areas of his life. He was born on May 23, 1940, to Olga and Victor Bailliet in Pointe-a-Pitre, Guadaloupe, as the second of four children. Conditions during WWII led Victor to seek safety and employment in America. Being an engineer specialized in the sugar industry, Victor moved his family in 1945 to Thibodaux, Louisiana, to work at a local sugar mill.

In 1949, a new opportunity arose in Venezuela. So the Bailliets set off for another adventure where Victor would be the chief engineer for a sugar mill that was being built in the jungle where snakes and iguanas abounded, perfect for John who was always looking for his next quest. While their parents lived in company housing at the mill, John and his sisters, Michele and Denise, attended boarding schools in nearby cities. On this way to school each day, John would wander around the city taking the “long way” to class, which only inspired more exploits. One of John’s adventures included running away from the boarding school by hitchhiking back home. This was only the first of many escapades for John, and seemingly paved the way for a future escape from Boy Scout Camp when he was 13 years old and managed to hitch a ride with a busload of elderly women.

No one is surprised that John was able to rope others into his antics. The twinkle in his eye, even from such a young age, only signaled mischief to come. In 1950, Victor and the family traveled back to France in hope of finding work, but jobs were scarce. Luckily, an opportunity opened up again in Thibodaux, so the family once more left for the US and finally found their permanent home in Louisiana. John often told his children the stories of growing up in the country and painted a picture of a young boy with a BB gun or a fishing pole, setting off for his next adventure of the day.

When John wasn’t exploring the countryside, his entrepreneurial spirit was already emerging, even as a child. He was always looking for ways to make money before he was old enough to work. His repertoire included selling Christmas cards to his parents’ friends, capturing fish from nearby Bayou Lafourche to sell to workers at the sugar mill, and selling admission tickets to his own parents to attend the skits and plays he and his siblings performed. Even as a youngster, whenever he got his hands on the Wall Street Journal, he’d study the quotes. He told his sister Denise that he was determined to make a million before he was 21 years old.

After graduating from Thibodaux College high school, he and his best friend, Jay Dornier, enrolled at Louisiana State University. John majored in industrial engineering and served as president of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity. Upon graduation, he stayed another year at LSU to get his MBA. Just before his final semester, his main professor left suddenly, and the university asked John and a fraternity brother to teach the remainder of the course. Another challenge landed in John’s lap, and he happily obliged.

With his MBA in pocket, he worked as a sales engineer at Texas Instruments in Dallas, where he met and fell in love with Donna Dickover. They married June 1, 1968 and soon afterward, John was transferred to Houston, TX.

Although gainfully employed, John always wanted to be an entrepreneur, and especially, to be his own boss. After a chance conversation with a dentist, John decided the field of dentistry could afford him that opportunity. So he resigned from TI, enrolled at South Texas Junior College to take some of the prerequisite science classes, and once again found himself as a teaching assistant while attending school. In addition to teaching, John and Donna started flipping houses (way before HGTV made it popular) to support their growing family. Ironically, he finished dental school with more net worth than when he entered, and was able to set up his own practice on Antoine Drive in Houston in 1974.

There he built a thriving practice, literally with his bare hands. Anyone who knows John knows that he never shied away from hard work, even if it meant picking up a hammer and nails to make it happen. John never refused anyone who needed dental work. There were times when he came home with fruit cakes, cars with rattling hubcaps, and even a taxidermy fox as payment, but he never turned away anyone who could not afford treatment.

We laugh and say that dentistry was his “day job”, because his wheels were in constant motion as he looked for the next thing to invent, business to create, and challenge to conquer. Some of his ventures included: owning a TV station; selling gas to the Peruvian military; building a pet cemetery; owning an auto detailing shop; owning half of an art museum; inventing toothpaste tube squeezers; building boat storage units; starting a pet hotel; inventing medical and dental supplies; and so many more. He was a true entrepreneur and was willing to put in whatever time and money was needed to make it happen. Not all his ventures were successful. Oftentimes, John’s gambles in the stock market or on a new business or product failed, but that never stopped him. For most people, being near bankruptcy would be a deterrent, but for John it was an opportunity to start all over again. He relished the challenge and the game.

He also loved his family as fiercely as he loved adventures. John and Donna had three children, Marc, Monique, and Danielle. He believed in the importance of his children’s education and served as the president of the school board at their school, St. Ambrose, for many years. John and Donna made many lasting friendships with other families through their involvement with St. Ambrose. In 1989 John and Donna amicably went their separate ways. A few years later, he met Maria Shields, a native of Peru, while on a ski trip in 1991.

His charm and wit won him a seat next to Maria on the bus headed to the ski resort, and from that point on, he was always seated next to her. They fell in love and married on September 9, 1993. John and Maria spent the next 30 years on their own adventures that took them on trips to Asia, Europe, the Middle East, South America, and many other exotic places. Maria’s sons, Michael and Tommy, and her mother, Maruja, joined the family and all helped in improving John’s Spanish, reviving what he had learned in the streets of Venezuela. John loved to dance and he and Maria never missed a chance to salsa, which they frequently did on cruise ships and with friends at the Raveneaux Country Club. Friends remember John’s wicked sense of humor, kindness, and sparkle in his eyes. Maria took care of John throughout his battle with cancer and saw him through even the darkest times.

John believed strongly that you’ll never work a day in your life if you love what you do, and he loved what he did. His success enabled him to help so many people, both family and those outside the family. He was a mentor and a second father to Maria’s sons, Tommy and Michael. For thirty years, he took them under his wing to teach them about business and about life as his own children. He was also very close with his siblings, Michele, Denise, and Robert. He prided himself on the fact that they had such a strong relationship, and never hesitated to lean on each other in good times and in bad times. On a weekly basis, he spent time with his younger brother, Robert, and kept in regular contact with his sisters, Denise, in France, and Michele in Thibodaux, until her death. His greatest hope upon his passing is that his children will find strength, love, and happiness within each other, the way he had with his siblings.

He is preceded in death by his parents, Victor and Olga Bailliet, and by his sister Michele and nephew Fred Francois. He is survived by his wife Maria, his children Marc, Monique, and Danielle, his stepsons Michael and Tommy, and his nine grandchildren.

Terry Pratchett once said that “no one is actually dead until the ripples they cause in the world die away,” and John Bailliet’s long reach of generosity and love will keep him alive in our hearts for many years to come.