Susan Elizabeth “Sue” Bailey passed away peacefully on Tuesday, March 11, 2025, at The Highlands in Topsham, Maine, following a valiant 10-month fight against lung cancer and a metastatic brain tumor.
Sue was born on July 2, 1946, to the late Frederick Clinton Bailey and Doris Clara (Dorman) Bailey in Chicago, Illinois. She graduated from Darien High School in Darien, Connecticut, and from the University of Connecticut, where she majored in retail.
Sue worked for Carroll Reed Ski Shop in North Conway, New Hampshire, as the women’s wear buyer. She was responsible for traveling throughout Great Britain and Europe and ordering new clothing lines for the store and its seasonal catalog.
In her free time, Sue liked to ski in the winter and would spend many weekends in the summer at the family cottage on Orr’s Island, Maine. In the 1980s she served as treasurer and board member of the Orr’s-Bailey Yacht Club. She loved to sail, sew her own clothing, knit sweaters, make quilts and ornaments for craft fairs, and play bridge. She also had a passion for collecting antique medicine bottles and advertising cards.
Sue moved back to Connecticut and changed careers into the technology field. She worked at Wang Laboratories Inc. in Stamford as a district order processor, then she transferred to Wang headquarters in Lowell, Massachusetts, as a corporate systems analyst. Before Wang filed for bankruptcy in 1992, she worked for Bank of America in Boston, where she worked in project management with an emphasis on risk management.
After her retirement, Sue moved to Brunswick, Maine, where her interest in family genealogy and the American Civil War blossomed. She became a docent at the Joshua Chamberlain Museum and a member of the Joshua L. Chamberlain Civil War Round Table, the Pejepscot Historical Society, and the Pejepscot Genealogical Society.
As the winters became harder for her, she decided to move south and found Southport, North Carolina, to be her favorite town. She moved there permanently in 2014 and became a member of the Brunswick County Civil War Round Table. Sue often traveled by paddle wheeler on Civil War tours along U.S. rivers. She loved exploring the plantations and battlefields they stopped at, and meeting and listening to Civil War authors who were guest speakers on the tours.
Sue leaves behind two sisters and brothers-in-law, Barbara McGowen (Jay), of Indian Harbour Beach, Florida, and Orr’s Island; and Joyce Duda (Len), of Great Island, Maine; one niece, Kate Wing (Miles); two nephews, David Duda (Jackie) and Steven Duda (Darcy); two great-nieces, Tessa Wing and Katharine Duda; and one step-great-nephew, Sawyer Blodget.
Sue’s family would like to thank the staff at The Highlands and CHANS Hospice for their dedicated care and kind support since Sue’s move to Topsham last December.
A private family service will occur later this spring. Memorial donations may be made to the Joshua Chamberlain Civil War Round Table, P.O. Box 1046, Brunswick, ME 04011.To offer condolences and share fond memories, please visit brackettfh.com to view Sue’s online memorial.
