Inez Bailey

Inez Anna Viola (Andersen) Bailey, 92, died on Saturday, July 29, 2017, in Billings, Mont.

Her service will be held on Saturday, Aug. 19, at 1 p.m., at the Opheim Community Church (former Lutheran Church) with Pastor Herb Sand officiating.

She was the youngest daughter of Laurits and Anna (Wickburg) Andersen, born on Feb. 7, 1925, in Opheim. She was raised on her parent's farm, northwest of Opheim in the Roanwood Community. She attended Roanwood School through the fifth grade, then went to Opheim. She graduated from Opheim High School in 1943.

She married Earl Paulson in 1943. They had two daughters, Donna Mae and Grace Ann. They later divorced. She married Lewis Bailey on Dec. 14, 1946. They bought the Valley Hotel in Opheim in 1947 and raised their children there.

She was a "Montana Pioneer" all of her life from her humble beginnings in a two-room farm home to her "Little House on the Prairie" east of Cascade. She always made do with what she had and could put up a banquet on short notice for family and friends. When they had the Valley Hotel, she was the "registrar, the maid, the housekeeper and the hostess." She did all of the laundry and even ironed the sheets, later using a "mangle" that Lewis bought for her, to make the ironing chore easier.

In 1980, they sold the hotel and bought acreage near Cascade, where they lived until Lewis died. Her daughter, Betty, came back to Montana to live with her and in 2000, they moved to Billings.

She was a member of the Opheim American Legion Auxiliary. She also loved to cook and was famous for her "thin bread" and her "potato dumplings." She loved to play cards, crochet and quilt. She made hundreds of "Lap Quilts" that she gave to family and friends and to the Vvterans' homes. Her quilts were exquisite, always making them with her special touch, be it for family, orange and black for Opheim All-School Reunions or for a special new baby.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Lewis, in 1999; her daughter, Donna Mae; a granddaughter, Twyla Dawn; her four brothers, Axel, Stan, Clarence and Cliff Andersen; and her three sisters, Ellen Johnson, Hedvig Tichenor and Ethel Clark.

She is survived by her four children, Grace Ann Hall and her husband, Howard, of Kalispell, Terry Bailey and his wife, Linda, of Pahrump, Nev., Betty Lou Bailey, Robin Bailey and his wife, Shelly, all of Billings; 10 grandchildren; 21 great-grandchildren; two great-great grandchildren; two brothers-in-law, Quannah Bailey of Chester and Jim Bailey, and his wife, Janet, of Opheim; and many nieces and nephews.

She was able to attend the Bailey family reunion in Havre the week before she died, so she got to say "goodbye" to her family.