Celebrating Life’s Stories: Barbara Studebaker Bailey Found Her Passion Traveling the Globe
Barbara Studebaker Bailey was born in 1936 Tipp City, Ohio, the next generation of a family that grew up in the area since 1813. Barbara had her pilot’s license and a motorcycle as a teenager, and when she was not doing one of those two things, she was driving a sports car. With her mechanical inclination, Barbara went to Ohio University in the 1950s and was the first female graduate from the School of Engineering.
“I think that’s groundbreaking, but she just took it in stride and thought ‘that’s what I am interested in, and that’s what I am going to do,’” said Heather Bailey, Barbara’s daughter who serves on the board of the Ohio’s Hospice Foundation.
After graduation from Ohio University, Barbara’s first job was with The Ohio State University at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, now the Air Force Institute of Technology. She met Kenneth L. Bailey while working there. They eventually married, and the couple was together for 46 years.
At the age of 50, when she got tired of the gray Ohio winters and both her children, Heather and Grant Bailey, were out of the house, Barbara did research and found a trip to Nepal. Heather said that when Barbara was a little girl, there was a reporter, Lowell Thomas, who gave radio updates from different parts of the world and when he signed off from each report, he said, “signing off from the top of the world.”
“She thought this mysterious man with adventure in his life went to the top of the world, and she could too. That is how she picked Nepal early on,” Heather said. “She did not know anything about Nepal but thought it must be better than Ohio. Barbara went to Nepal 23 times, and while she never summited Mount Everest, she did go to base camp 20 times — as many times as her body would allow her.”
That first trip to Nepal introduced her to a new hobby: high-altitude trekking. Barbara began traveling the globe for new treks and expanded her interests when she took a camera along.
“She took her photography hobby really seriously, like she did her engineering, and that is how these photos came to be,” Heather said.
In total, Barbara made it to 126 countries. Barbara had Alzheimer’s, and it changed her ability to travel. Her last trip was to Afghanistan in late 2019. She had tried three previous times to enter the country, even once taking a taxi through Pakistan to the border to walk over. On the same trip, she traveled to Socotra, an island off the coast of Saudi Arabia controlled by pirates.
“She loved adventure and loved that she was a simple girl from Tipp City, Ohio, but here she was standing on an island controlled by pirates, or wherever she was in the world,” Heather said. Barbara was proud that she made it into Afghanistan, a country she’d had on her travel list for many years. Another trip she was proud of was going high into the mountains of Uganda — just her and a guide — for multiple days to sit up in trees to photograph silverback gorillas.
In 2011, Barbara published her first book titled “Escapades! Adventures of an Extraordinary Woman” with her cousin’s company, Mosaic Press. The book showcases seven of her journeys including trekking in Nepal, whitewater rafting in Madagascar, and bicycling in Vietnam.
Barbara received care from Ohio’s Hospice in Troy from January 2023 through October 2023. She lived in her home until May before moving to StoryPoint Senior Living, with her hospice care continuing through the transition.
“In addition to the extra confidence having hospice care gave the private caregivers, adding hospice care on to the nursing home care ensured we looked at the right things. The nursing home provided excellent day to day care and Ohio’s Hospice provided wonderful clinical care,” Heather said. “Hospice multiplied the number of skilled hands serving her and helped our family have better information. The Ohio’s Hospice care team members are wonderful communicators.”
Ohio’s Hospice’s musical therapist brought Barbara so much happiness. “The clinical and physical hospice care gave the family peace of mind,” Heather said. “The music therapy gave Barbara peace of mind.”
Heather and Grant are donating more than 160 original photographs to Ohio’s Hospice in honor and memory of Barbara. All of the photographs are of remarkable people doing everyday things that Barbara met during her travels or of animals in their natural habitats.
“Her quality of life was better after we were able to get her connected to Ohio’s Hospice this past January,” Heather said. “If we can take something special of Barbara’s, and Ohio’s Hospice can use them to bring joy to other people, that is our goal.”
Ohio’s Hospice is grateful to the Bailey family for their donation of Barbara’s photographs. “We’re grateful to the Bailey family for donating this collection of original photographs,” said Lori Igel, president of the Ohio’s Hospice Foundation. “We thank them for their support of our mission.”
The care team at Ohio’s Hospice was honored and privileged to provide care to Barbara who died on Oct. 12, 2023.
