James Richard Bailey

James Richard Bailey, 74, of Loudon NH, passed away on April 11th, 2025, at his home in Loudon.

James was born in Concord, NH to Ervin Bailey & Colleen (Ashland) Bailey on February 2nd 1951.

James, who preferred to be called Jim or Jimmy, went to high school at Fall Mountain Regional HS in Langdon, NH and graduated in 1969. He went on to join the Army National Guard in August, of 1970 at Fort Leonard Wood Army training base in Missouri, His MOS was Heavy Equipment operator and mechanic. He was an expert Rifleman, and he was part of the Local 98 Operator Engineers unit and built 63 VT bridges. He was honorably discharged in 1976 as a Specialist. He married his beautiful bride Kathy Ward June 27th, 1970, and had two girls, Heidi and Heather. They had a beautiful marriage of almost 55 years. He started his career after the Army in Forklift Mechanics. He worked for W.D. Matthews Machinery Co. as a Mechanic, followed by Hyster Forklift Co. in Concord, NH as a mechanic working his way up to Service Manager. This led him to start his own business Northeast Forklift Co. then changing to Northeast Power Equipment successfully selling & servicing lawn and garden equipment in Epsom, NH for more than 25 years. After retiring he became a man who couldn’t just sit home so he had a part time job working at Carparts in Epsom, NH and working alongside his best friend Dana doing road service projects. Jim had many hobbies; he was an avid deer hunter in his earlier years and always scored a deer each season. Snowmobiling was probably one of his biggest hobbies and was a proud diehard Skidoo man who said he “Bleeds Yellow”. Jim’s girls, grandchildren and great grandchildren were his proudest accomplishments involving them in things he enjoyed from hunting, fishing, 4-H & sheep, maple sugaring, golfing, tractor restorations, cutting wood and tinkering. In his earlier years you could find him at the Pehaugen Men’s Club having a cold beer and playing horseshoes. He loved Fords, playing cards, mowing his lawn with his Cub Cadet and visiting friends & family and his Wednesdays having lunch and a cold beer with his best friend.

Jim is preceded in death by his father Ervin Bailey, mother Colleen Bailey, brother Larry Bailey.

Jim is survived by his beautiful wife Kathy Bailey, of Loudon, NH; daughter, Heidi Bailey & Mark Wiggett; daughter, Heather Philbrook & husband Nate Philbrook; grandchildren, Gage Munson & wife Alex Munson, James Munson, Josh Raymond, Carson Philbrook; and great-grandchildren, Brayden Munson and Payton Munson; siblings, Cindy Lussier, Stan Bailey, Holly McCoy; and numerous nieces and nephews.

SERVICES: A celebration of life will be held at Makris Restaurant, 354 Sheep Davis Rd in Concord, NH, on Saturday, April 19, 2025 from 12:30 P.M. to 4:30 P.M.  Graveside service will be held at a later date at Leavitt Cemetery in Chichester, NH.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations the family requests your donations may be made to your local snowmobile club and or local American Legion.

The family wishes to extend their gratitude to the hospice nurses and everyone at Cremation Society of New Hampshire for the wonderful care that was given.