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Skip Bailey, 1947 - 2024
Friend, home builder, lobsterman
October 17, 2024

Skip’s life story provided by his friends, including Lester Pace and Bucky Hydal. Photos from the TownDock archives.

S
kip Bailey was an original. Linwood Austin “Skip” Bailey, age 77, passed away October 12, 2024. In recent years he had lived in a simple waterside RV at Green Bay, off Greens Creek in Oriental.

Formerly of Harpswell, Maine, Skip grew up navigating the waters of Harpswell Sound and Casco Bay. His ancestors founded the community of nearby Bailey Island.

His voice gave away his Maine roots, with an accent you might expect from a former lobster fisherman. Skip was proud of his Bailey Island heritage, often wearing a Bailey Island cap. Skip is survived by his son Roy, and many friends in Maine and North Carolina. He was preceded in death by his adoptive parents, Frank and Lillis Bailey.

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This 2017 photo captures Skip with a few of his iconic features. A Bailey Island Maine hat. A Cigarette Boat t-shirt. And Skip, a former lobster fisherman, is eating a lobster roll (he had managed to convince Dave Sargent at M&Ms to offer lobster rolls).
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Skip in the 2014 Spirit Of Christmas parade, with his Ford Model A replica.
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At the Oriental Classic Car Show, TownDock asked Skip how he kept his car so shiny. This bucket was the answer.

Before moving to Pamlico County in 1984 to establish a home building business, he was a restaurateur, lobsterman, builder, and craftsman in Maine. One summer, Skip said he and his crew built hundreds of lobster trap replica coffee tables, that were then offered in the L.L. Bean catalog. He gave the first one to his mother.

He was a person that seemed to know everyone and made friends easily. His stories included building a floating restaurant in Portland, racing cigarette boats in Ft. Lauderdale, and working on the restoration of the original Jaques Cousteau research vessel.

“If ya ain’t got no wood on a boat, there’s no woodwork.”
- Skip Bailey

Custom hot rod cars were a passion. Skip collected so many trophies from showing his hot rods, that he kept a trailer full of them.

Skip was a regular for lunch with Jeff and the crew at PowerCraft Marine for many years. Friend Lester Pace says “we’d go to dinner often and people knew him everywhere we went.” At Green Bay, he was loved by the late Miss Cricket and later by her Grandson Charles and his partner Andrea.

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Tasting chowder, at the Chowder CookOff.
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Skip Bailey and his friend Skip Hulland used to be regulars at The Bean. They shared the same name, but not exactly the same profile. A few years back, TownDock compared the two Skips.
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Skip’s birthday, April 14, 2018. His friend Lester Pace looks on.

Besides his many friendships, the homes and log cabins Skip built, as he said, “. . .from Maine to Florida,” are his enduring legacy.

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In 2017 Skip showed up at the town dock with a wooden skiff he had built. Skip wasn’t favorably impressed with newer 4 stroke outboards: he had managed to locate an unused Johnson 10hp 2 stroke from the 1990s. The smooth 2-stroke made him smile.
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Inside the skiff.

In accordance with Skip’s wishes, there will be no services. His ashes will be spread over the waters of the Neuse River.

Posted Thursday October 17, 2024 by Keith N. Smith


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