Lois Ann Bailey
Retired executive assistant for the Maryland Department of Public Safety remembered for her loyalty, kindness, generosity
Lois Ann Bailey, the retired executive assistant to the secretary of the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, died of complications from Parkinson’s disease Friday at her Jacksonville home. She was 66.
Born in Cumberland and raised in Loch Lynn Heights in Garrett County, she was the daughter of Boyd Friend, a plumber and electrician, and Mary, a homemaker.
A 1972 graduate of Garrett Southern High School, she earned a business associate degree at Strayer University.
She met her future husband, Gary Bailey, on a young-adult church ski trip in 1981. They married in 1983.
“She was smart, practical and understated,” Mr. Bailey, a retired Raytheon engineer, said. “We never had an angry word. We might have had a quiet moment or two, but neither of us ever spoke a word we might later regret.”
Ms. Bailey spent more than 35 years working for the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services.
“She was extremely loyal and always worked for the greater good of the organization,” said Mark Vernarelli, a spokesman for the organization. “Lois was a beautiful human being who always performed her job efficiently and with a sense of humor. She was the consummate executive assistant, the top aide to the top person in her agency.”
Mr. Vernarelli said she “kept track of everything for one of the state’s largest departments, long before Google calendars and iPhone reminders.”
She had various jobs before working for three public safety secretaries: Bishop Robinson, Mary Ann Saar and Gary Maynard.
“She was loyal and kind,” said Ms. Saar, the secretary from 2003 to 2007. “I never heard her say an unkind or gossipy word about anyone. When I came on board, Bishop Robinson came to me and said no matter what I did with the department, ‘Please keep Lois.’”
She also worked as the top assistant to three directors of the Division of Parole and Probation.
“She was fabulous. She was one of those exceptional people,” said Judith “Judy” Sachwald, former director of the Maryland Division of Parole and Probation. “When I came to the department, Lois was welcoming and made sure I met all the right people. She was a warm and caring person who was extremely generous.
“Nobody ever had to twist her arm and she went to bat for people who needed money for a funeral and natural disasters,” Ms. Sachwald said. “We had parole and probation agents whose homes were destroyed in storms. In the days before GoFundMe, we had Lois. She did all this [fundraising] and fulfilled her professional duties as well. She always found the minutes needed to help colleagues in need.”
“She never missed a birthday of people in the office,” Ms. Sachwald said. “She was thinking about what she could do to make their lives easier or happier. She had a big and generous heart.”
She regularly arrived at work early and often stayed late.
“Lois loved the job,” her husband said. “She always wanted to work for a CEO. She liked to be helpful and she understood business and knew what could help a boss best. She tried to anticipate needs.”
Her husband said: “She did not want to be the boss. She wanted to make them look good.”
She retired from her state post in 2010 and then worked for Conmed Healthcare of Hanover and American CareSource as an executive assistant to these firms’ CEO.
Mrs. Bailey was a member of Grace Fellowship Church in Timonium.
Survivors include her husband of 39 years, Gary Bailey; a daughter, Zoe Bailey of Madison, Wisconsin; a brother, Chuck Friend of Garrett County; a niece, Jennifer Friend-Robinson of Reisterstown; and a nephew, Benjamin Friend of Cumberland. A son, Zachary Bailey, died in 2019.
A funeral service will be held at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday at the Ruck Towson Home at 1050 York Road in Towson. The family also will greet friends at noon Friday at the C&S Fredlock Funeral Home at 21 N. Second St. in Oakland.