Adeline Bailey was born to Gertrude and Frank West on Oct. 15, 1917, in Camas, but within two weeks of her birth, the family moved to Ridgefield, where she received her first 12 years of education. Adeline had one sister, Charlotte West Harding, who passed away in 1998.
Adeline was a private secretary to two attorneys in Portland until her marriage in 1945 to John Wilson, who had just returned from Air Force service in World War II. They lived in Iowa for 11 years, where their two children were born.
In 1957, the Wilsons moved to Vancouver. John was employed by Roving & Co., and Adeline became an employee of FMC Corp., the company from which she retired in 1980. John died in 1969, and after being a widow for two years, Adeline married Joseph (Joe) Bailey, whom she had met while returning to square dancing, an activity she had enjoyed with John. Their family grew to six, including Joe’s children from a previous marriage.
Joe and Adeline were dancers. They became challenge square dancers, round dancers, line dancers and ballroom dancers. They also became world travelers. In their RV, they traveled twice around the country visiting all 50 states. They were married 45 years until Joe died in 2016.
