Lorene Wise Bailey

.Lorene Wise Bailey was born to George C. and Cora Floyd Wise, along with her twin sister Irene on January 11, 1921, in Kansas City, KS. She departed this life on December 12, 2025, at Madison Hospital, surrounded by her nieces.

At a young age she accepted Christ and was baptized at Lesley Temple CME Church. Lorene was raised in Tuscumbia, AL. She graduated from Trenholm High School in 1940.

Lorene attended Alabama State College (now Alabama State University) and briefly taught in a one-room schoolhouse in the Colbert County School District. Lorene married her high school sweetheart Prince Bailey in 1946.

Lorene and Prince moved from Tuscumbia, Alabama to Lorain, Ohio where many of Prince's family members lived. Lorene worked in the Medical Records Department at St. Joseph's Hospital for many years and was a member of the Wesley United Methodist Church. She remained in Lorain until after Prince's death.

In 1994, Lorene returned to Tuscumbia to be near her Alabama family. She united with St. Paul AME Church in Tuscumbia. Lorene was an outgoing person and involved herself in programs and seminars traveling all over the US with family and friends. In 2020, Lorene moved to Madison, AL, again, to be near family. Lorene remained a faithful member to St. Paul AME Church keeping in constant contact even with the challenges presented by their distance. Lorene moved to Huntsville, AL in early 2025, to be even closer to her loving niece, Nedra.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband; her brother, Floyd Wise; her sisters Roberta Wise Webb and Irene Wise Hamer; and niece Cora Bonita Hamer Speight.

She is survived by her nieces and nephews Gwendolyn Hamer (Robert, Sr.) Yarbrough of Statesboro, GA; Nedra Hamer McDaniel of Huntsville, AL; Donna Webb Brittain of Cleveland, OH; James (Charisse) Webb of Tampa, Fl, Teresa Webb Law of Cleveland, OH; Nathan (Carolyn) Webb of Cleveland, OH; Gwendolyn Hanks of Chicago, IL; Terry Speight, spouse of the late niece Cora; great nieces and nephews, great-great nieces and nephews and many cousins. Her special cousins include Harold and Frankye Calloway, Raymond and Elaine Eggleston, Louisiana Floyd, Bridget Floyd, Ronald and Kathryn Boyd, James D. Floyd, Tracy and BeLinda Ragland, Earlene Bailey, Jacqueline Greenhill and Kerry and Jerry Schrader.

Lorene was mother to many though she had no biological children.

Lorene will surely be missed by her countless godchildren, nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends.

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