Gordon Francis Bailey

Gordon Francis Bailey, Sr., passed from this life on September 6, 2020, at age 90 after a brief illness. He was a longtime resident of Fort Worth.

Viewing and Rosary will be held at Lucas Funeral Home, Keller, from 6 PM to 8 PM on Friday, September 11.

A Funeral Mass will be said at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church, Richland Hills, at 10 AM Saturday 12. Burial will follow at Bourland Cemetery in Keller.

He is survived by his wife of 70 years, Katherine Rerecich Bailey, children Janice, Katherine, and Joseph, daughter-in-law Susan, 12 grandchildren, 21 great-grandchildren and 3 great-great-grandchildren; his sisters Mary and Marvel; numerous nieces and nephews, and Aunt Marvell Porte. He is predeceased by his parents, his son Gordon F. Bailey Jr., and brother Michael Aldridge Bailey.

Gordon was born on January 13, 1930, in New Orleans, the first child of Gordon Cabene Bailey and Lillian Hahn Bailey. He attended Mater Dolorosa parish school, St. Aloysius Academy, and Louisiana State University, where he was a member of the LSU Tigers football team. "Tusk," as he was known in those days, played on the offensive line that blocked for future NFL Hall of Famer Y.A. Tittle. He obtained his CPA while studying at Texas Christian University.

He met Katherine Rerecich in Vicksburg, Mississippi, and they married on November 12, 1949; they stayed married for the next 70 years.

Gordon's lifelong career began as a service cashier at Pontchartrain Motors on Poydras Street in New Orleans. As he grew in responsibility with the company, he was transferred to Fort Worth, where he worked as controller at Jack Williams Chevrolet. In 1970, he purchased Holiday Lincoln-Mercury on Forest Park Boulevard. Over the next 20 years, he acquired dealerships in Hurst, North Richland Hills, New Orleans, Alabama, Wichita Falls and Colorado.

An intensely private man, he was nevertheless extraordinarily generous and helped countless people in myriad ways, from jobs to financial assistance to oftentimes simple good advice. He was never one to discuss or reveal how he assisted the many lives he touched.

He loved walking and staying active, and would often spend Sunday afternoons walking his property in Wise County, enjoying the peace of that beautiful country.

Gordon was a man of prodigious intellect and great curiosity, and he possessed a most fertile imagination. He was a voracious reader throughout his life, enjoying fantasy works from J.R.R. Tolkien and Mary Stewart, to the western genre of Louis L'Amour and Zane Grey, to the thrillers of Preston and Child, and even the macabre of Lovecraft. When his eyesight failed him in the later years, he transitioned to Books on Tape and would spend hours with his headphones on, listening to the taped novels. He was a natural storyteller, delighting every generation with family stories and invented tales. He had a wonderful and infectious sense of humor. One of his greatest legacies is the wealth of happy memories that his children and grandchildren will treasure all their lives.

Gordon lived his life according to his Roman Catholic Faith, and conducted himself with a deep integrity that formed everything he said and did. "To thine own self be true; thou canst not then be false to any man," was one of his favorite sayings.

"I want to die knowing I did the best I could," he often said.

The Road goes ever on and on
Out from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
Let others follow it who can!
Let them a journey new begin,
But I at last with weary feet
Will turn towards the lighted inn,
My evening-rest and sleep to meet.

--From "The Return of the King" by J.R.R. Tolkien

"Good night, sweet prince, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!"


A recording of Gordon's Rosary is viewable here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFkiXERl44o