John Bailey Sr. passed away July 11th at Kai Tai in Port Townsend. John was the partner of Betty Champlain of Port Townsend. He was the father of Megan, John Jr., Bill, Debbie and Robin.
John and Betty had many happy years together in Port Townsend. They enjoyed gardening together and sailing a small sailboat around the bay. John was an accomplished woodworker and sailor.
John and his ex-wife, noted sailing writer Jo Bailey, burned a love of sailing into the whole family by sailing the Sound and San Juans in the late 50s and 1960s.
John was a professional photographer, and worked for a number of newspapers in the northwest, ending as a reporter and city editor with the Tacoma News Tribune.
John was the father of Megan, who is a Physician’s Assistant, and John Bailey Jr, who many of us have chased around the buoys watching the stern of “Pinger” shame us into becoming better sailors. Son Bill, sailed away from Port Townsend in the late 80s, and has voyaged around the world with his wife, Lisa, and they are currently skippering big sailboats for the elite in Europe. Debi lives in Olympia, where she is a family counselor. Robin and her husband, Doug, live in Long Branch, WA, and sews professionally for a living.
John was lately living in Port Townsend, and contributed his photography and writing to the PTSA.
Rest in peace, John Sr.