Virginia Bernice Bailey was born December 17, 1925 in Selma, Alabama to Richard and Bernice Boyd. She was one of two children born to this union including her older brother, John Percy Boyd. Virginia attended Selma Public Schools, and upon graduation from Knox Academy, she entered Tennessee State University, and then transferred to Tuskegee Institute, graduating in 1947.
On July 10, 1947, she married John Santos and moved to Providence, Rhode Island, where she worked for the Providence State Welfare Department as a social worker. Subsequently, they moved to Detroit, Michigan, where she began a teaching and counseling career in the Detroit Public Schools. She also taught dance at the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA). In 1963, she received a Master’s degree in Guidance and Counseling. Her marriage to Santos ended in divorce, and she subsequently married Walter Jackson Bailey of Ann Arbor, who was a Real Estate Appraiser, on April 11, 1968, he preceded her in death in 1992.
Virginia moved to Ann Arbor and became a guidance counselor at Pioneer High School in the Ann Arbor Public School System, where she remained until her retirement. She continued her professional training at the University of Michigan, earning 30 hours beyond her Master’s degree in Guidance and Counseling. She was an advocate for education, and took great pride in working with young people, shepherding them through their high school years and helping them to discover and to achieve their ultimate life goals. This, she believed, was her most important contribution to society.
Virginia was devoted to her family, travelling with her nieces, nephews, and cousins all over the United States. Virginia also travelled with family members and close friends throughout Europe, China, Egypt, Latin America and the Caribbean.
She was a member of the First Presbyterian Church, and had a very active social life as a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated (AKA), Alpha Phi Omega Graduate Chapter and in The Links, Incorporated, where she served as the chapter’s president, 1992-3. She attended AKA Leadership Conferences, and maintained national membership until her death. She was also a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the Washtenaw Association of Retired Personnel (WARP). She was a staunch believer in women’s rights and equality for all God’s children.
The memorial service for Virginia Boyd Bailey will take place at Muehlig Funeral Chapel, 403 South Fourth Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48104 at 11 a.m. on December 27, 2018.
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