Betty Helen Wallen Bailey

Betty Helen Wallen Bailey passed away June 18, 2023, in Spokane, Wash.

Betty was born to Earl and Lavina Wallen in Salida, Colo. In the early 1930s, the family moved to the Copeland, Idaho, area north of Bonners Ferry.

She completed her elementary schooling at the one-room Sheridan School, and graduated from Bonners Ferry High School in 1948. Betty received a registered nurse degree from the Deaconess School of Nursing in Spokane. She then attended the University of Washington, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree.

Betty spent 50 years in the nursing field, primarily at military hospitals where her husband Lt. Colonel Gordon A. Bailey was stationed. Her last 30 years were at the Veteran’s Administration Medical Center in Spokane which she loved.

She thoroughly enjoyed golfing, bowling and the garden up at the family cabin in North Idaho. Betty was a world traveler which included all seven continents, many countries and all 50 states.

Betty was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Gordon; daughter Mary Margaret; her sisters, Arlene and Margaret; and her brother, Cpl. Richard Earl Wallen, U.S. Marine Corps, MIA Korea.

She is survived by her daughters, Amy and Cynthia; six granddaughters, seven great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild; her sister, Ellen; and many nieces and nephews.

No service to be held at this time per her request.