Ernest Clay "Ernie" Bailey
Marriages
Ida Mae Halbrooks - November 17, 1945
Burial Details
Obituaries
The Daily Sentinel page 3D - February 23, 2020
Ernest “Ernie” Clay Bailey,
was born May 28, 1921 in
Oakley, Kansas. He married to
Ida Mae Halbrooks on November
17, 1945. His children are Donna
Lee Bailey Weiszbrod, Gerald
(Gary) Ernest Bailey, Randall
(Randy) Clay Bailey, Daniel
(Danny) Clay Bailey; nine
grandchildren and nine and one half great-grandchildren.
One definition of light is the brightness that lets you see things.
Events in Ernie’s life were shaped and ultimately changed by light.
Visible light, the action of light, light by its very name. Ernie helped
us all to see things differently through the light he brought into our
lives.
Born in Kansas and living through the ensuing dust bowl, there
was the need for more light in 1925 when his family left the dust
and wind permeated plains of Kansas and moved to Colorado. That
led to farming and ranching in the Crawford and Paonia, Colorado
area for many years.
As a young man, there was the horrific event that forever changed
Ernie’s life. His father was killed by a bolt of lightning as he was
pulling a horse drawn rake through the hay fields. Ernie, was a young
man who had to force himself to trek across the pasture knowing
he was going to find his father’s lifeless body. Subsequently, he
was left to raise the family and make sure his sisters had a college
education to prepare them for life.
Ernie found the light in his Savior and Lord at a Baptist church,
when he was in his mid-twenties. This encounter with the Light of
the World, transformed and shaped everything about his future, from
that point forward. He was “not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,
for it is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes.”
Ernie was a man who did not hold back when the opportunity arose
to talk about Jesus. Every family member staunchly received a
sermon from Ernie as representation of his love when they were
departing his company. His admonishing was an inevitable part of
his loving goodbyes.
Ernie and his young bride, Ida, went to Waxahachie, TX in
1946 to Southwestern Assembly of God Bible College. This was
to prepare for ministry in churches where he served as pastor in
Arkansas, Utah, Idaho and Colorado. He wanted everyone to have
the assurance that they would “know, that they know, that they
know” that they are saved and going to heaven.
In 1963 Ernie and his life-long friend, Elmer Lowrance, started
the first chapter in Colorado of Royal Rangers, a faith-based boys
club teaching them life lessons and Christian values. One evening
in Uravan, Colorado, they took a group of boys up the rock known
as the Biscuit. At the top, they built a big fire and Ernie talked to the
boys about the light of the fire and the hot coals, using them as an
illustration of the fires of hell. That life lesson about the hot coals
and the parallel image of hell stuck in the hearts of many of those
boys over their lifetime.
Ernie had the strongest hands, from working the ranch, milking
cows, and working on engines. Many people commented on his
grip and budding teen boys from church tried to match that manly
grip and subsequently, they saw the light! But the light those young
men saw was pain, as they dropped to their knees from the power
and strength in those hands.
Ernie’s career spanned several different industries. He delivered
fuel to the mines near Nucla and Naturita, Colorado driving some
very treacherous and steep dirt roads. One of the highlights of
his professional career was winning Salesman of the Year for
his company, Duro Test Lighting. He landed very large lighting
contracts at Norad (Cheyenne Mountain) and the Airforce Academy
Hospital near Colorado Springs. Winning the coveted title provided
him with a trip to New York City for the award ceremony. Ernie sold
and delivered BG additive products across Colorado, working for
Kenz & Leslie. He worked until he was 92, repairing windshields
for Busy Bee Glass, a company he started and managed. This job
required the repair of customer’s unwanted light refraction that
came through cracks or pits in their windshields. He was always
willing to help his friends and neighbors with building projects,
mechanical assistance, yard work, etc.
Ernie enjoyed trips to the lake or his favorite streams to fish,
and his fish stories were sometimes tall tales, but we all enjoyed
listening to his embellished adventures. He also loved to hunt and
many of those excursions ended up with impromptu mechanical
repairs, using the light of lanterns and flashlights to accomplish a
successful vehicle or trailer restoration.
On a lighter note, Ernie once burned all the hair from his
face when he was repairing Donna’s car. During the repair, the
carburetor backfired and sparked a small fire. That light was not an
event he wanted, nor did he plan for it.
One of the favorite family stories was when Shorty, who worked
with Ernie, showed up at his house one evening for dinner, and
nonchalantly made the comment,” Ernie, your wife is not fat”. That
evening electricity lit up the air in their house, but it was again not
a form of energy that Ernie embraced. Ida Mae helped Ernie “see
the light” that night.
Ernie always had a joke to tell and he always laughed all the
way through the joke and he always, without fail, messed up the
punchline. But he thought it was hilarious, even when the recipients
of the joke had to spend the next few seconds figuring out the real
punchline and explaining to him why/how he had messed it up.
He could light up a room with his laughter and he loved telling his
corny Grandpa jokes.
During Ernie’s last few years, he served in ministry at the Delta
County Correctional facility, talking to, sharing the word and leading
inmates to his Savior. Ernie received a letter of commendation from
previous governor, Bill Owens, for his service and his willingness
to share the light, to men who had been entangled in darkness.
On Valentine’s day, 2020, Ernie stepped out of his tired 98-yearold body and entered in to the light of heaven, greeted at the gates,
by his Savior. Now he’s walking on streets of gold along with Ida
Mae, their twins who have been in heaven for decades and several
grandchildren who did not make it to their first breath here on earth.
But to Ernie, the highlight of this transition is now, to know, that he
knows, that he knows, that he knows - he is safe in the arms of The
Light of the World.
Well done Ernest Clay Bailey, thou good and faithful servant!
A Celebration of Life Service will be held at True Life Church,
Cedaredge, Colorado, March 6, at 2:00 p.m.
