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Rodger DeLancey Bailey
Rodger DeLancey Bailey, formerly of Southampton, died on November 13 in Hanford, California. He was 87.
Born in Southampton on September 18, 1925, he was the older of two sons born to DeLancy and Annie Pearl Bailey. He served in the military during World War II in one of the first all black bomber squadrons, the 477th, and later the 618th, of the U.S. Army Air Corps. He was honorably discharged in 1946. After the war, Mr. Bailey embarked on a 38-year-long career with the U.S. Postal Service and was named postmaster in Southampton. He was also a Southampton Village Police officer and volunteered with the Veterans Memorial Ambulance in Southampton.
Mr. Bailey was also one of the first black members of the American Motorcyclists Association, eventually serving as chairman of District 4 in 1954.
He married Margaret Ann Hobday in 1954 and the couple shared 50 years together before her death in 2005. He retired to Arlington, Virginia, until 2008, when he moved to Hanford to be with his family.
Mr. Bailey is survived by a son, Rodger Bailey II, and his wife Shirley of Hanford; a daughter, Judith Bailey-Jenkins and her husband Howard of Maryland; four grandchildren, Kenneth Bailey and his wife Melissa, Tamara Bailey, Howard Jenkins Jr. and Courtney Jenkins; and two great-grandchildren, Elijah Bailey and McKinley Bailey; plus many other family members and friends.
In addition to his wife, he was predeceased by three children, Yvonne Bailey, Rodger Bailey Jr. and Linda Bailey-Whalen.
Funeral services were held on December 1 at the Calvary Christian Center in Hanford. Interment was at Arlington National Cemetery.
on Dec 3, 2012