ANN DENISE LONGCORE

A celebration of Annie’s life: Ann Denise (Bailey) Longcore, June 15, 1956-March 17, 2020. To honor Annie’s wishes not to mourn her loss, but, to have a grand party of family and friends at her home, 22519 Kimball Rd., Sand Lake. An open house celebration will take place on August 15, 2020 from 2:00 pm-6:00 pm. Food, drink, and music will be furnished.

Amber R. Bailey, age 77, of Cedar Springs, died Wednesday, February 13, 2019 at Green Acres of Cedar Springs. Amber was born February 20, 1941 in Newberry, MI the daughter of Raymond and Olive (Crowley) Williams. She owned Bailey’s Party Store with her husband for five years and worked for the City of Cedar Springs for 18 years as both city manager and city clerk. She enjoyed scrapbooking, collecting china, reading and Christmas Teas. She was a dedicated wife and loving mother and grandmother. Surviving are her daughters, Sheila (Joe) Wittenbach, Ann (Trever) Hall; grandchildren, Evan, Maddy, Josh, Cade, Alex and Tressa; brother, Robert (Shirley) Williams; sister, Ardith Pangburn; four nieces and one nephew. She was preceded in death by her husband, Kenneth; son, Kenny and son-in-law, Jim Kirkwood. The family greeted friends on Saturday from 4-6 p.m. at the Bliss-Witters & Pike Funeral Home, Cedar Springs where the service was on held Sunday at 1:00 p.m. Memorial contributions may be made to Heartland Hospice.

Arrangements by Bliss-Witters & Pike Funeral Home, Cedar Springs

Kenneth R. “Bud” Bailey age 76 passed away Tuesday, February 27, 2018 surrounded by his family at Green Acres of Cedar Springs. He was born in Escanaba, Michigan on January 23, 1942 to Kenneth and Joyce (Krouth) Bailey. He worked as an accountant for Cedar Springs for 20 years and also as controller at Mary Free Bed Hospital. He loved gardening, golfing, sports, especially U of M, and his grandchildren were the light of his life. He is survived by Amber (Williams) his wife of 54 years; daughters, Sheila (Joe) Wittenbach and Ann (Trever) Hall; His grandchildren, Evan, Josh, Cade, Alex and Tressa; in-laws, nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents; his son, Kenny; sister, Bonnie Morton; niece, Julia Morton; son-in-law, Jim Kirkwood; and parents-in-law, Olive & Ray Williams. The family will receive friends Friday from 5-7 p.m. at the Bliss-Witters & Pike Funeral Home, Cedar Springs where a memorial service will be held Saturday at 1:00 p.m. Memorial contributions may be made to the Mary Free Bed Foundation.

Arrangements by Bliss-Witters & Pike Funeral Home, Cedar Springs

Joyce Marie Bailey went home to be with her Lord and family on Saturday, December 29, 2012. She was born in Perkins, Michigan, on August 13, 1924 to Alfred and Mabel Krouth. All of her life she very much loved her Lord and all of her family. She married Kenneth B. Bailey and they raised their children Kenneth (Bud) and Bonnie in Eckerman, Michigan. In later years Ken and Joyce moved to Union Grove, Wisconson, where they worked at “the colony”, a state facility, where they cared for children for many years. Joyce enjoyed country music, dancing and bowling. She also enjoyed spending time at the Cedar Springs Senior Center with her many friends. She loved a good joke and our funny family stories and laughing. When the great grandchildren were born she was referred to as “GG” (for Great Grandma) by the children and many others. She was preceded in death by her husband, Kenneth B. Bailey; daughter, Bonnie (Bailey) Morten; grandchildren, Julie Morten and Kenny Bailey; sisters, Leona Rochon, Monica Droppart and Mary Lorenson; brothers, Robert Krouth and Don Krouth; niece, Linda (Bailey) Tulwetzky; nephew, David Bailey; brothers and sisters-in-law, Neil Bailey, Jim and Mable Bailey, Alvin and Shirley Bailey, Lloyd Bailey, and Millicent (Bailey) Beauchamp; grandson-in-law, Jim Kirkwood. She will be dearly missed by her son, Ken “Bud” Bailey and his wife, Amber (Williams) Bailey; son-in-law, Don Morten and granddaughter Joyce Morten; granddaughter Sheila (Bailey) Wittenbach and her husband, Joe and great grandchildren Evan and Joshua; granddaughter Annie (Bailey) Kirkwood-Hall and her husband Trever Hall and great grandchildren, Cade Hall, Alex Kirkwood and Tressa Hall; sister, Elizabeth (Krouth) Bailey; brothers, Richard (Mary) Krouth, Alfred (Ruth) Krouth; brother-in-law, Myron Lorenson; many nieces and nephews. A memorial service will be held Saturday, April 6, 2013 at 11:00 am at Bliss-Witters & Pike Funeral Home, Cedar Springs. The family will greet friends beginning at 10:00 am. A luncheon will follow at Mary Queen of Apostles, Sand Lake. Private interment will take place at Elmwood Cemetery, Cedar Springs. Donations in her honor may be made to Bishop Hills, 4951 Eleven Mile Road, Rockford, MI 49341, to be used for the fund to provide assisted living housing to those in need.

Arrangements by Bliss-Witters & Pike Funeral Home, Cedar Springs 

Duane Lee (Boots) Bailey 86, passed away on November 6, 2012. He is survived by his wife Patricia. He leaves his children, Michael (Marie) and Sandy Lipten (Mark); grandchildren, Amy Lawton (Steve Illsley) and Sam Lipton. Also surviving are a sister Letha Gebhardt (Albert) and sister-in-law, Marjorie Bailey, and many nieces and nephews. His brother Mac Bailey preceded him in death. Duane was raised on a farm in Michigan, graduated from Cedar Springs High School and Michigan State University and had a long career as a Financial Advisor. He will be remembered for his vitality, friendliness, sense of humor and his strong dedication to community service. A memorial service was held on Saturday, November 17 in Maitland, Florida.

April 22

Happy 60th Birthday

If you see him on Friday, wish him a happy birthday!
Wishing you many more!

Gary Bailey (r) is national coach of the year.

Grace Bible College men’s basketball coach and Cedar Springs resident Gary Bailey has been named the 2011 NCCAA II “National Coach of the Year.”  This year Bailey guided the Tigers to their third straight NCCAA II National Championship and the school’s fourth National Championship in the last six years.  This is the second time that Bailey has received this honor.  He also received the award in 2009.  Bailey has been named the NCCAA II Midwest Region “Coach of the Year” for four consecutive years from 2008-2011.

“This has been a great run for Grace basketball,” said Bailey.  “It is a great honor to receive this award.  As I have said many times, this award should be presented to the entire coaching staff.  All of our staff contributes to the success of this program.  Dan George, Kyle Bohl, Kent Karnemaat, David Oldebekking, and John Bailey all play a major role in what we do all year.”  Dan George is also a Cedar Springs resident.

Bailey is the all-time win leader at GBC with 148 wins in his six years at the helm and is averaging 24.7 wins per season.  This season the Tigers broke the regular season win mark with 25 and the season win mark with 31 finishing the year at 31-7.

Coach Gary Bailey of Cedar Springs named coach of the year

Grace Bible College won its third consecutive NCCAA II national championship and the fourth in six years in Springfield, Missouri Saturday night with a 76-56 drubbing of Valley Forge Christian College.  The championship game was a rematch of the 2009 title game which Grace won by 2 points.

Grace’s head coach, Gary Bailey, and assistant coach, Dan George, are Cedar Springs residents.  George was Bailey’s college coach 32 years ago and the two have been teamed up at Grace for the last six years.  “It has been an amazing run, especially these last three years,” said Dan George.  “It kind of started two years ago when we beat Ferris State University on their floor.  People started paying attention to tiny Grace.”

Gary Bailey was named Midwest Region Coach of the Year for the fourth consecutive year and he was named National Coach of the Year for the second time, previously winning the honor in 2009.

Team accomplishments this year included:

•    Victories over Calvin College and Hope College in their tournaments with Grace winning both tournaments

•    Leading NAIA Champion Cornerstone University by 16 at halftime before falling to the Golden Eagles on a buzzer beating three-pointer.

•    Setting a new school record for victories in a season (breaking the 30-8 record they set in 2009) with a record of 31-7.

•    Expanding their record setting NCCAA II winning streak to 58 in a row.  The Tigers have not lost an NCCAA II game in three years and they have been ranked #1 in the country since January of 2009.

This year’s tournament run began at the Midwest Regionals in Chicago where Grace dominated Emmaus, Northland International University, and Lincoln Christian University and moved on to the National Tournament in Springfield, Missouri last week as the #1 seed.  The Tigers handled #8 Kentucky Christian University on Thursday, 74-53, but survived a scare from #4 Dallas Christian on Friday night.  Grace trailed by 13 at halftime before fighting back and winning in overtime, 69-67.  The Tigers built a 13 point lead at the half of the championship game against Valley Forge and expanded it to as much as 27 points in the second half before Bailey emptied his bench to give all his players an opportunity to contribute.

Allen Durham (Wyoming Park) was named Tournament MVP and winner of the Maravich Award as NCCAA II Player of the Year.  Durham and Cory Jamieson (Wayland) were named All-Americans.