Nancy Bailey

Nancy Carolyn Bailey, 87, of Hopkinton passed away peacefully at her home on April 26. Born in Boston, she was the daughter of the late Ruth A. (Taplin) and Paul A. Newsome. She was the wife of 29 years to the late Bruce G. Bailey.

Nancy and her sister, Patricia, grew up together in Needham. As children, they met a number of actors through her father’s PR firm. She has cherished the memories of meeting Esther Williams, Art Linkletter, Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis and the one and only Norman Rockwell, which was a great segue to her art career.

Nancy attended Westbrook College in Maine, Vesper George School of Art in Boston and Portland School of Fine and Applied Arts. She worked at Rust Craft greeting card company. But her absolute favorite job was freelancing for herself. She was an independent watercolor artist, and she taught art classes from her home. She was one of the original committee members to start the Polyarts festival in Hopkinton. She also was one of the first volunteers to teach art in the Hopkinton school system.

In 1996, she was commissioned by the Hopkinton Athletic Association for the original “It All Starts Here” painting for the 100th running of the Boston Marathon. In 1998, she developed the lithograph “Marathon Day,” which she is most known for. She was a member of the prestigious New England Watercolor Society, The Rhode Island Watercolor Society, The Cultural Arts Alliance and the Framingham Artist Guild.

Nancy is predeceased by her sister, Patricia Leiby, and nephew Chris Leiby. She is survived by her three children: son Jeff Bailey and wife Dawn, daughter Kim Bailey, and daughter Dawn Pillarella and husband Jay Pillarella. Her beloved grandchildren, Samantha Allen, Kelsey Rutkowski, Matthew Bailey, Zachary Bailey, Christina Bailey, Michael Bailey, Grace Bailey, Jacob Coffey and Kayla Coffey, were her heart. She was blessed with four great-grandchildren as well: Jayden, Keith, Connor and Damian. She was loved by many nephews, Paul, Jonathan and Benjamin Leiby, as well as her grand-nieces and grand-nephews, Kirstin Leiby, Jenna Leiby, Nicholas Leiby and Nathan Leiby, all of whom she adored. She spent many Christmas memories with her cousin, Richard McKnight, his wife, Sonia, and their daughter, Amy McKnight Fazen.

Her heart was clearly full of her beautiful family, and she shared that love with everyone — a whole bushel and a peck.

A celebration of Nancy’s life will take place at a later date to be announced. Arrangements are under the care of the Chesmore Funeral Home of Hopkinton.

Obituaries are submissions, typically from funeral homes, that are not subject to the same level of editorial oversight as the rest of the Hopkinton Independent. Obituaries may be edited for grammatical and factual mistakes and clarifications and shortened for space considerations.