LeRoy "Lee" Clare Bailey

Leroy (Lee) Clare Bailey passed away at home on April 16th, 2026, after a brutal seven-month fight against cancer and the side effects of its treatments.

Lee was born in Allegan, Michigan on June 22nd, 1947, to Clare and Josephine (Cizczion) Bailey. He graduated from Allegan High School and was a gifted athlete. He loved playing football, camping, and hanging out with his buddies in the Allegan Forest, and shooting baskets with his Uncle Chick.

He volunteered for the U.S. Army and was proud to serve his country as a radio operator in Vietnam. Upon his return from overseas, he married Bonnie Coleman and became the proud father of daughters Melanie (Brian) Greer and Jessica (Matt) Ring, who meant the world to him.

He loved sports and was an avid U of M football and die-hard Detroit Lions fan. He enjoyed running and biking and participated in multiple triathlons. He was always in the stands cheering when his daughters played softball and volleyball.

Lee became a certified Master Electrician and worked for nearly 35 years in primarily industrial environments. After his retirement in 2005, he spent another 20 years as an electrical inspector, serving up to seven townships at one time. He was an extremely hard worker and never gave up on anything.

In 1993, he met the woman who would become his best friend, Melissa (Bell), and in 1996 they purchased a home on the Paw Paw River, so their Golden Retriever could swim any time he wanted. Over the following years, Lee lovingly remodeled each room of the house, where he and Melissa created a warm and comfortable home they cherished. They married in Las Vegas on March 15, 1997.

Lee and Melissa traveled to the Caribbean and Florida many times, and for several years kept a small boat in South Haven for the summer, but they both preferred a quiet life at home with each other, surrounded by nature and their dogs. Lee loved being outdoors regardless of the weather and enjoyed tinkering in his pole barn and tending their property, always with rock music or the television playing in the background. He played an awesome air guitar with whatever lawn tool was handy.

Lee’s heart was huge and generous. He was the guy who would stop and help you when your car broke down on the side of the road, stand up for a woman being harassed in a gas station, gift a neighbor with a generator so if their power went out, their new baby would be safe and warm, or fix the wiring in the kitchen of a single mom, refusing payment for even the necessary parts. (All true stories.)

Lee had a passion for military history and knew everything about the Civil War. He got a big kick out of how much he looked like Ulysses S. Grant. In his younger years he participated in Civil War reenactments, and in 2023, he and “BFF” Dallas Hankinson took a driving tour of the various battle sites near the east coast, before heading to Florida to surprise Lee’s Uncle Jim Bailey, who was the positive guiding influence his entire life, and whom he loved like a father. He also got to spend some time with his cousin/brother-from-a-different-mother, Gary Letourneau.

Lee’s love for animals was special. He enjoyed taking his Goldens for daily car rides, and several of them “worked” as “electrical inspector dogs,” traveling with him to the various sites he inspected. He remembered every dog and cat he had throughout his life and would always tear up when talking about those that had passed. He would rescue any injured animal he found, nursing it back to health, including a wolf dog who ended up joining our family. He also fed the neighborhood’s feral cats through a pet door he cut into the back of his pole barn.

Lee was kind and funny, making friends wherever he went, even making light of his condition with the nurses, who didn’t see him at his best during his illness. He will be greatly missed but never forgotten because he made this world a better place, just by being himself.

There will be no service, but a visitation will be held on Friday, May 8th from 4:00 P.M. to 7:00 P.M. at the Adams Funeral Home, 502 W Michigan Ave, Paw Paw. Donations can be made in Lee’s name to your choice of a no-kill animal rescue or shelter.