Nancy Perrin Bailey

Nancy Marguerite Perrin Bailey, 87, passed away on January 16, 2021 in Birmingham, Alabama. She was born in Detroit, Michigan. Ever an enthusiastic and brilliant student, she attended the famous Cooley High School in Detroit, where, as the school newspaper editor, she interviewed the iconic jazz trumpet player Mr. Louis Armstrong. She studied at Northwestern University and at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where she majored in English. She later earned a Masters in Library Science at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, and a Masters in History at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Nancy was a much loved librarian and journalism teacher at the Brooke Hill School for Girls and later at The Altamont School in Birmingham where she influenced the lives of many young hearts and minds through her wit and wisdom, well aware of the power of the written word. She was a devoted wife of 64 years to her husband Walter Welch Bailey with whom she shared adventures throughout the decades. As a young couple in Huntsville, Alabama, where Walter served in the US Army at NASA after completing his Masters in Business Administration at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Nancy and Walter raced sports cars on tracks and in rallies. She travelled widely in Europe, enjoying haute cuisine, opera and Formula 1 races with Walter. As a librarian and book lover, she travelled to most of the major rare book libraries of the world, thrilled to witness the lineage of education and learning. Her interests were wide and varied. She was an avid reader, a book collector, and a longtime birdwatcher who was known to rush out with a cap gun to scare away intruders such as grackles and cats. She was an avid knitter who supplied beautiful and well-crafted socks, hats, mittens, sweaters and Christmas stockings for her children and grandchildren. She sought excellence in all that she did, be it gourmet cuisine or a well-crafted Op-Ed, and she appreciated the same in others. In her 40’s she began to learn to play the cello, her favorite string instrument. At a certain point she determined that she would prefer to listen to the playing of cello masters such as Yo-Yo Ma and Rostropovich. Classically trained as a pianist in her youth, she was a longtime supporter of the Alabama Symphony Orchestra. Nancy embodied a passion for the arts and education throughout her life. She was a faithful parishioner at The Cathedral of St Paul in Birmingham where she and Walter were confirmed into the Catholic Church in 2013. She was preceded in death by the brother she cherished, Lawrence Roy Perrin. She is survived by her husband Walter Welch Bailey, children Walter Welch Bailey, Jr (Susan), Carolyn Jane Bailey, Anne Markham Bailey (Robert Heithaus), all of Birmingham, AL, and grandchildren Thomas Fletcher Bailey of Orlando, FL, Edward Floyd Mostoller of New York, NY, Jonathan Welch Bailey of Birmingham and John Lawrence Bailey of Front Royal, VA.

Funeral Mass will be held on Saturday January 23 at 10 a.m. The Cathedral of St Paul in downtown Birmingham.

The family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to Alzheimer’s of Central Alabama and the Alabama Symphony Orchestra.