Nelrose Montgomery Bailey

Nelrose’s life journey ended on July 26, 2020, at age 95 after living an active, fulfilling life.  Born on Christmas Day, 1924, she was the eldest child of Thomas Herbert and Wilma  Montgomery of Central.    While attending LSU, she met and married William R. Bailey, a Navy Aviator born in Livonia.  They travelled for the next 25 years, living in seven states, Morocco, Spain, and England while raising four children.  Nel loved the many experiences of seeing, doing, and learning new things, and she engaged in many interesting hobbies.  She learned the skills to bargain in the Rabat markets of Morocco, she collected authentic carriage clocks, horse brasses, old lamps and many other antiques.  Her daughter Anne quips that “she collected anything that did not collect her.” Nel developed what she called an “obsession” for making brass rubbings, impressions of ancient burial monuments in the churches and cathedrals throughout England. “It incented me to see much of the British Isles and learn their history.”  She was an American Red Cross volunteer at the Naval Hospital in Pensacola caring for the wounded returning from Viet Nam. When Nel and Bill moved back to Baton Rouge, she continued exploring and collecting.  She and Bill loved genealogy and did their research in courthouses and cemeteries documenting their family trees and history of immigration to America.  She was active in the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Retired Officers Wives Club, and she mentored children in the Reading Friends program as a member of University Baptist Church. Her love and laughter will be very much missed by her daughters, Anne Berman (Roger) and Amy Lopez-Ona (Eugene) and sons William and Robert Bailey as well as her grandchildren, Eugene William (Ashley) and Brian (Anne) Lopez-Ona, Samuel and Leland Berman, James and Elizabeth Bailey, and her brother Kenneth Montgomery (Betty).  She has numerous nieces, nephews, and cousins.  She was preceded in passing by her husband, parents, sisters Joyce Kelly and Carmel McLaughlin, and brother Thomas Montgomery. Friends and family are invited to a celebration of her life at University Baptist Church on Wednesday, July 29th, at 10:00 a.m. Visitation will be on Wednesday, July 29th from 9:00am until time of service. Burial will follow at Greenoaks Memorial Park Garden of Valor. In lieu of flowers, please honor Nelrose by donating to the Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Health St. Jude Affiliate Clinic: http://www.ololchildrens.org  Church Funeral Services of Baton Rouge in in charge of arrangements.