Roberta Hatch Bailey

Roberta Hatch Bailey September 19, 1930 - September 13, 2014 Roberta Hatch Bailey of Waco passed away Saturday, September 13, 2014. Her services will be 10:30 a.m., Wednesday, September 17, at First Baptist Church Waco with the Dr. Matt Snowden officiating. Burial will follow at Oakwood Cemetery. Visitation will be from 5:00-7:00 p.m., Tuesday, September 16, at Wilkirson-Hatch-Bailey Garden Room. Roberta Hatch Bailey was born on September 19, 1930, in Waco, to Roy Hamlin Hatch and Roberta Wilkirson Hatch, both of whom predeceased her. She is survived by her husband of almost 64 years, A. William Bill Bailey, Jr. Roberta Hatch accepted Jesus and was baptized at the First Baptist Church of Waco as a child, where her father had enrolled her in the Cradle Roll the day she was born. She was an active life-long member. Through the years she was Co-Superintendent of the College Sunday School Department, was active in Vacation Bible School, taught a young married women's Sunday School class, served as President, Outreach Leader and Group Captain of her Sunday School Class, and served on the Budget, Finance, Insurance and Deacon Selection Committees. She served on the First Baptist Church 150th Anniversary Celebration Committee and was a founder of the First Baptist Church Foundation. As a youth Roberta attended Camp Waldemar in Hunt, Texas. She graduated from Waco High School at age sixteen and was elected Class Favorite. When she was just 14 years old and a student at Waco High, she met and began dating her future husband, Bill Bailey. She was a cheerleader and on the tennis team. After dating for six years they married December 15, 1950. As a young married couple, they won the Waco Tennis Mixed Doubles Championship. She entered Baylor University and pledged the Delta Alpha Pi now Kappa Alpha Theta sorority. She was voted "Best Pledge" and was elected President of the club her senior year. When national fraternal organizations came to Baylor, she was the first person invited to be initiated into a national sorority, Kappa Alpha Theta, and was later honored by the sorority as Outstanding Alumna. She graduated from Baylor with a B.A. cum laude in English in 1951 and an M.S. in 1952. She was a member of Alpha Chi, a national honor society. Professionally, Roberta served as Vice President and Secretary of Wilkirson-Hatch-Bailey Funeral Home, Inc., where she was vigilantly committed to maintaining the highest ideals of service and integrity that had been established by her father, Roy Hatch. As a member of the Board of Trustees of Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center, she served on both the Finance and Building Committees. She was active in civic and cultural affairs throughout her life. She was Chairman of the Women's Division of the United Way of Greater Waco the first year they raised over $1 million. Later she served on the United Way Board of Directors. She was Past President of the Junior League of Waco, Inc.; Past President of Evangelia Settlement Child Care Board of Directors; Chairman of the Waco Volunteer Service Bureau; a Director of the Baylor Alumni Association; Past President of the Thursday Study Club; a Member of the Citizen's Advisory Committee to the Juvenile Judge; Past Member of the Waco Parks and Recreation Board; Past Member of the Board of the Oakwood Cemetery Association; Past Member of the Harston Study club; and a Hillcrest Hospital Volunteer. Together with her husband, she provided the funds for the Bill & Roberta Bailey Baylor Golf Center at Twin Rivers Golf Club. The Institute for Faith and Learning of Baylor's Truett Seminary recently established the Annual "Bill and Roberta Bailey Family" Lecture in Christian Ethics. The couple received the James Huckins, Pat Neff, and Presidents Medallions from Baylor University. They are members of the Baylor Endowed Scholarship Society and participants in the Baylor-Waco Foundation and Baylor Bear Foundation. She loved sports and was an avid and knowledgeable spectator throughout her life, especially following the Baylor University teams. Next to her faith, Roberta's highest priorities were her husband and her family, and she enjoyed entertaining family and friends wherever she was throughout her life. She loved the holidays, and Christmas for her family was her specialty. She relished buying gifts for her sons, then for her daughters-in-law, then her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. In her middle years, she spent many summer evenings entertaining onboard The Sunshine, the family houseboat. In her sixties and seventies, she thoroughly enjoyed long summer vacations in Jackson Hole, Wyoming where she and her husband escaped the Texas heat in the majesty and strength of the Teton Mountains. For sixteen years she hosted family vacations for the entire family, especially the grandchildren, in Jackson Hole. Throughout the years she was most supportive of her husband's insurance business and his many years of work with the Independent Insurance Agents of Texas IIAT and the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America IIABA. She particularly enjoyed the honor and responsibilities of serving as First Lady of the national association of over a quarter million people. She traveled with her husband to every corner of the United States, eventually visiting all 50 states, and 30 foreign nations. They were so frequently in Washington, D.C., her husband had an office there for a year. Through this association and others, she made, received and treasured many dear friends nationally. Roberta and Bill traveled to New York City 21 times to celebrate their December anniversary. They saw October's autumn colors at West Virginia's Greenbrier Resort 17 times and celebrated Christmas 2007 there with family. Their travels included an African Safari, Australia, Russia and the Holy Land. Remarkably, she kept a Travel Diary for over half a century. It included hotels, restaurants and their specialties, weather, remarks and places of interest. Friends would often call for travel ideas, information, and recommendations. Roberta was preceded in death by her sister, Marie Hatch Bowen and brother-in-law, Gene Bowen, and daughter-in-law, Yvonne Mize Bailey. In addition to her husband, Bill Bailey, she is survived by three sons, Roy William Bailey and wife, Tina, of Dallas, Wesley Wilkirson Bailey and wife, Rebecca, of Waco and Hatch Mansell Bailey of Waco; four granddaughters, Erin Bailey Simpson and husband, Sam, Britain Bailey Peakes and husband, Matt, Kate Bailey McCunniff and husband, Bill, and Bridget Dodd Bailey; six grandsons, Boyd Murphy Bailey, Baxter Hatch Bailey, William Billy Ross Bailey, Barrett Mansell Bailey, Brennan Mize Bailey and wife, Laura and Brooklin Ray Bailey; and four great-grandchildren, Wesley Thomas McCunniff, Juliet Lamb Simpson, John Bailey Simpson, and, born late last month, Cooper Arthur Peakes. She is also survived by her niece, Beverlyn Bowen Eckert and husband, Al, of Little Rock, Arkansas, and her nephew, Brad Bowen and wife, Sandra, of Colleyville, Texas. Her grandsons will serve as pallbearers. Honorary pallbearers will be M. M. Key, J. D. Hudson and Bill Lewie. The family suggests the following memorials, First Baptist Church of Waco Endowment Fund; The Bill and Roberta Bailey Family Lecture Series in Christian Ethics at the George W. Truett Seminary; Baylor Scott & White Hillcrest Medical Center; and the Bill and Roberta Bailey Endowed Scholarship Fund at Baylor University. Her family loved her dearly and will miss her deeply. We rejoice in knowing she is in the Presence of her Lord and Savior whom she sincerely worshiped and faithfully served all the days of her life, a life well lived. The family invites you to leave a message or memory in our "Memorial Guestbook" at www.WHBfamily.com.