Frances Pauline Real Bailey

Thursday, July 2, 2009

1917-2009

HILTON HEAD, S.C .- Frances Real Bailey, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, died on May 31, 2009.

Fran was born to Frank and Mary Eloise Real in McCook, Neb., in 1917, the second youngest of six sisters, including Julia Colgan, Margaret Hoole, Eloise Skidmore, Willa Bailey and Florence Jeffries. A leading business man in McCook, Frank Real was a city councilman, three term mayor, Chamber of Commerce member and a Director of the Nebraska Society for Crippled Children.

She graduated from McCook Senior High School (Class of 1934), McCook Junior College and Texas Tech College (Class of 1938). After graduation, she landed a job with the Farm Security Administration in Amarillo, Texas. There she and Jim Somerville met and married in 1942. After brief stints in Milwaukee and Cincinnati, they lived in the Washington, DC area for over 30 years.

Fran is predeceased by husbands, James A. Somerville (1968), Roger B. Doulens (1972), W. Neal Bailey (1991) and, daughter Jane Somerville McGhee (1991).

She is survived by three children, James (Bobbie) Somerville of Hilton Head, S.C., and their children, Blake and Justin and great-granddaughter, Grace; Frank (Lyn) Somerville of Little River. S.C., and their children, Matthew and Stephen, and Nancy Somerville Korvin of Rochester, N.Y.

An interment service will be held in Hilton Head, South Carolina over Labor Day.

In lieu of flowers, donations to the American Red Cross, where Fran was a long time volunteer, would be gratefully appreciated.