Joan Ruth Bailey

November 28, 1934 – August 16, 2025

Joan Ruth Bailey was born in Honesdale, PA, to Edward Thomson Wilson and Bertha Lucille (Schroeder) Wilson on November 28, 1934. 

She grew up in the Pocono Mountains, spending her childhood at picturesque Lake Wallenpaupack, which later became her vacation destination every summer when she started her own family. 

Joan graduated from Hawley High School as valedictorian in 1952, where she was on the basketball team and enjoyed being the school’s majorette. She graduated from Penn State University at the age of 21 with a degree in Parks and Recreation. She was also a member of the Delta Zeta sorority, and she remained active in the sorority as an alumna. Immediately upon graduation, she accepted a job as the supervisor of playgrounds and community centers for the City of Middletown, Ohio.

In 1958, she married Harry Duane Bailey, who worked in the pricing and sales division of Armco Steel for many decades. 

She was a loving wife and a devoted mother to her two daughters, Susan Kilkenny and Nancy Dawson.  She delighted in her grandchildren, and took them to Kings Island and the Monroe Swim Club as often as possible. 

Joan was an active community member in Monroe, OH. She was a member of the Current Events Club, volunteered at her daughters’ schools, and taught exercise classes in the community as well. She was a long-standing member of Zion Lutheran Church (now known as New Hope Lutheran Church) in Middletown, where she taught the three-year-old Sunday School class for over 50 years. She took art lessons every Tuesday for decades and created many beautiful paintings that have been passed down to her children and grandchildren. 

She is preceded in death by her parents Edward and Bertha Wilson, her husband Harry Duane Bailey, her brother Jerry Wilson (Elizabeth), and her sister Carol Mosher (Don). 

She is survived by daughters Susan Kilkenny and Nancy Dawson (Edward); grandchildren Lindsay Heigerick (Sam), Erica Chacon (Peter), David Kilkenny, and Matthew Kilkenny; two great-grandchildren—and many loving family members and friends. Everyone who knew her could attest to what a pleasant, kind person she was, and she will be missed greatly. 

In lieu of flowers, donations may be directed toward The Marquette Manor Foundation in Indianapolis, where she enjoyed living the last 11 years of her life.