Commissioner Wesley Bailey - Retired
SOUTH PEND OREILLE FIRE AND RESCUE
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Commissioner Wesley Bailey - Retired |
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SOUTH PEND OREILLE FIRE AND RESCUE |
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Commission Chairman-Retired Wesley Bailey Pend Oreille County Fire Protection District No. 3 Board of Commissioners 1996 - 2009
After graduating from Newport High School Wes moved to Harrington, WA to work for a wheat farmer, Bly’s, to earn money to go to college. In 1959 he attended WSU in Pullman and then went on to Hastings College in Hastings, Nebraska the next year where his girl friend, Ardella Shafer, from Mead, Washington was going to college. During the summers of 1960-1962, Wes worked for his brother-in-law logging northeast of Usk, Washington. He married Ardella in July 1961. That summer they lived briefly in Cusick. They then moved to Ellensburg to attend CWU. There Wes obtained an industrial arts teaching degree and became the proud father of a son, Kerry.
The fall of 1968 Wes began teaching woodshop, metals and driver's education at Issaquah High in Issaquah, Washington. There through his church activity he became a devoted Boy Scout leader. As Scoutmaster he reveled in teaching his Boy Scouts to camp, hike, compete and survive. In 1977 he was selected by the Greater Seattle BSA Council to take a troop back east to participate in a National BSA Jamboree at Moraine State Park in Pennsylvania. Also, to his pleasure, two daughters were born, Kristie in 1969 and Katrina in 1975 while living in Issaquah.
Then it was on to Prosser, Washington to teach at Prosser High School where he became a Scoutmaster for the third time. Through his scouting career he helped some fifty Boy Scouts in his troops earn the rank of Eagle Scout (three of which were his own sons!). In 1986, in recognition of his service, Wes received The Silver Beaver coveted award from the Fort Simcoe BSA Council in Yakima, Washington.
After thirty years of
teaching Wes retired from the Prosser School District in 1994 and returned
to Newport to live on and operate the Bailey farm known as Coyote Trail
Ranch.
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South Pend Oreille Fire and Rescue 325272 Hwy. 2 Newport, WA 99156 |
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©2005-2009 South Pend Oreille Fire and Rescue |
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Wes Bailey, the youngest
child of Paul and Irene Bailey, was born and raised near Newport, Washington
on Coyote Trail Ranch with three sisters and a brother. He attended Newport
Schools from Kindergarten (all day back then!) through the 12th Grade. He
milked his dad's dairy cows at a very early age, did his share of chores,
and helped with the raising and harvesting of their major farm crop, grass
hay. As a pre-teenager he helped his dad build the farmhouse that stands on
the home place today. His high school sport was baseball. Wes was an active
member of FFA and enjoyed judging livestock at fairs. He also learned to
love hunting and fishing.
His first teaching job was
teaching woodshop on the Yakima Indian Reservation at White Swan High in
White Swan, Washington. Another son, Karl, joined the family during that
time.
Then in 1967 Wes returned to Ellensburg to be the Assistant Dean of
Men at CWU and to work on his Master's Degree in Industrial Education. A
third son, Kurt, was born. To provide for his family, in addition to his
college duties, Wes lived in and managed an apartment complex, Brookside
Manor, cleaned businesses and closed the college library.
During this time
Wes wrote his thesis and obtained a Master's Degree in Industrial Education
in the summer of 1968.
His leadership in scouting
continued in Yakima Valley while he taught at Granger High School, operated
a small fruit farm, and guided his sons as they raised pigs for their FFA
projects. As Scoutmaster there, he again took a troop back east for another
National BSA Jamboree at Fort A. P. Hill, Virginia. 
