Irma Louise Bailey

Irma Louise Bailey passed away at 98 on January 4, 2026 in her home in Davis, while cared for by her family.

Born November 19, 1927, in Marysville, California to Pratt and Una Elenora (Tisdel) Lolmaugh, Irma grew up in Yuba City with her older brother, Lynn. When Irma was 2 years old, her mother died of tuberculosis. Her father hired Mary Thompkins, a widow, to care for his children. Soon after, Mary became his second wife and mother to Lynn and Irma. The family frequently vacationed at Dillon Beach where Irma’s grandmother, Maggie Masters Babcock, worked as a hotel cook.

Irma attended and supported herself through Chico State College where she joined the Delta Sigma Epsilon sorority. While in college she bought her first sewing machine so she could sew her own clothes, the start of a life-long hobby. After graduating in 1949 with a BA in Education and a teaching credential, she taught elementary school in Auburn for two years.

Irma met her future husband, Richard Bailey, on a double date set up by friends. On August 27, 1950, they married in Yuba City and honeymooned on the California Coast near Fort Bragg. For the first year of her marriage, Irma taught in Auburn during the week and returned to Richard in Davis on weekends. Then she put her teaching career on hold and started her family of four children: Steve, Susan, Eleanora and Richard. In 1955, the family moved into a newly built home in East Davis where Irma lived until the end of her life.

In the early years of family life, Irma, Richard and their son Steve took a car trip from the lower 48 states through Canada to Alaska, driving on rustic Yukon and Alaska roadways. She especially remembered a close encounter with a bear who decided their cold chest was a good way to get a treat. Dillion Beach became a favored family camping vacation spot. Just as Irma had done as a child, her children explored Miwok mounds and tide pools, made sand castles on the beach, jumped waves in the cold Pacific Ocean, and went clamming and fishing.

Irma resumed her teaching career in 1965 at Central Davis Elementary shortly before it was scheduled to be permanently closed. The district reassigned her to the newly built Pioneer Elementary School, where she taught fifth grade until the end of her career. There she created multidisciplinary units incorporating math, English, history, science, music, art and exercise: International Heritage Day, oceanography, and the western pioneer movement. Her students took annual field trips to Dillon Beach where they, too, explored tide-pool life and Miwok mounds. Her western pioneer movement unit found the students practicing skills that pioneer children may have learned including making bread and vinegar pie, churning butter, quilting and square dancing. Because of her innovative curricula and years of experience, the Davis Unified School District designated her a Master Teacher. After retirement, she continued friendships with fellow retired teachers through the Brown Baggers.

Retirement gave her the freedom to see the world. Irma and Richard traveled by car, train, boat and plane around the United States (including Hawaii and Alaska) and worldwide to the Soviet Union, South America and the Galapagos Islands, England, Scotland, China, and Okinawa. After Richard’s passing in 2006, Irma travelled with family or friends to Israel, Egypt, France, and Mexico as well as within the United States where she especially enjoyed making stops at fabric shops.

Irma held a firm faith. In fact, that was one of the qualities that attracted her husband when they first met. With Richard, she joined the First Baptist Church of Davis (now FBC Davis) when the church had its home on F Street and was a member for 66 years. When the membership chose to start a campus ministry program, she helped provide potluck lunches for college students who missed the campus cafeteria Sunday brunch if they went to church. Over the years, Irma sang alto in the choir, taught Sunday School, Bible School and elementary youth groups, supported the church’s move to the Russell Boulevard location, and served wherever needed. In later years, her FBC Home Group was a joy in her life providing deep friendships, continued exploration of the Bible, and a place to sing the hymns that she enjoyed so much. Among many other causes, her faith led her to support children through World Vision, and missionaries, particularly through the Wycliffe Bible Translators.

Irma passed her love of sewing on to her two daughters. After retirement, quilting became her favorite hobby but she still enjoyed many types of sewing by machine or hand. Through the Sewing Servants at FBC she used her skills to benefit others. She received inspiration for new projects from the Fabric Friends. Her creativity and skill, shown in the quilts and embroidery she entered in the Yolo County and California State Fairs, garnered many awarded ribbons. When a local family asked her to teach sewing to their daughter, she gladly shared her expertise.

Irma is survived by her son, Steven (Kathleen), daughter Susan (Gary Brower), daughter Eleanora, and son Richard (Sydney); grandchildren John (Anna), Kristine (Christopher), Kate (Adam), Kari (Luc), Beilin, Samuel, and Gregory; and great-grandchildren Hannah, Jacob, Kai, Lillian, William, and Isabel.

A Celebration of Life will be held at FBC on January 30 at 1pm. In lieu of flowers, remembrances may be made to World Vision https://mycause.worldvision.org/campaigns/Irma-Bailey-Memorial-Fund.