Roy H. Bailey

Roy Hamilton Bailey, 86, of Sarasota, Florida, formerly of Washington, D.C. died September 11, 2010. He was born February 12, 1924, in Altha, Florida. He was the son of Charles James Bailey and Martha Jane Hanna Bailey whose ancestors settled in Florida in the early 1800s.

Following graduation from Altha High School in 1942, he joined the United States Coast Guard. He served during World War II on a landing ship for tanks (LST) in the Pacific, and took part in the invasion of Iwo Jima and Okinawa, where he was wounded when his ship was hit by a Japanese kamikaze attack plane.

After the war, he was among the first men to enroll at Florida State University. At the outbreak of the Korean War, he joined the U.S. Army, serving as a commissioned officer specializing in petroleum supply.

While in the service, he met and married June Elaine Kullberg. The couple spent several years in Germany where Roy served first as an Army officer, then as a civilian official of the U.S. Government. While there, three of their four children were born.

After returning to the U.S. in 1958, he worked as a petroleum specialist for the Department of Defense in Washington , D.C. until his retirement. In 1979, he moved to Sarasota.

He is survived by his wife, June; a daughter, Elaine Baker and husband Norman, of St. Petersburg, and three sons, Barnett and wife Andrea, of Palm Harbor, Steven of Tallahassee, and David and wife Lisa, of Tallahassee, and granddaughters Allison Baker of St. Petersburg, and Tara Reist of Palm Harbor, and many friends.

A memorial service will be held in Blountstown, Florida at a later date.

Memorial donations may be made to the Magnolia Baptist Church, 20336 N.W. Gaston Spivey Road, Altha, Florida 32421-4705

Arrangements under the direction of Palms-Robarts Funeral Home & Memorial Park, Sarasota, FL.