Doyle and Barbara Bailey of Natchez have been named recipients of the 2008 President’s Distinguished Service Award at Northwestern State University. The Baileys were honored at the annual Homecoming Banquet on Friday, Oct. 24 and at the Homecoming football game against Sam Houston on Saturday, Oct. 25.
“Doyle and Barbara Bailey are exemplars of the volunteering community of people who willingly give of themselves and their resources to help others,” said Northwestern State President Dr. Randall J. Webb. “Both Doyle and Barbara are retired from caring professions and could relax and enjoy life after years of serving others in their professional roles. But, ‘retirement’ to them is yet another phase in their work lives in which they continue to contribute to the overall welfare of our city and region.”
According to Webb, Doyle and Barbara Bailey were instrumental in establishing a memorandum of understanding between Northwestern State University and the Natchitoches Emergency Response Crisis Counselor Team earlier this year. The agreement establishes the framework of collaboration and coordination between these agencies for the provision of crisis intervention counseling services during emergencies on the NSU campus. Webb said the agreement set up a model program that addresses the Board of Supervisors for the University of Louisiana System initiative for mental health services during emergencies on university campuses.
In 2005, the Baileys set up the Rev. Doyle and Barbara Bailey Family Scholarship for a third year student at Northwestern. Recipients are selected by the NSU Foundation in association with the Baptist Collegiate Ministry at Northwestern.
“In a real sense, honoring Doyle and Barbara Bailey with the President'sDistinguished Service Award is to honor all of the fine people in Natchitoches and beyond who assign a priority to the welfare of others and provide tangible evidence of such commitment through their volunteerism and financial generosity,” said Webb. “All of us can learn valuable lessons from the people who give selflessly of their resources and through their service to make our world a better place.”
Doyle Bailey was a missionary to Argentina from 1966 to 1979 and an instructor in the Department of Religion at Louisiana College from 1979 to 1981. From 1981 until 2000, he was director of the Stewardship Department for the Louisiana Baptist Convention.
Since 2002, he has been a deputy and chaplain for the Natchitoches Parish Sheriff’s Department and Region VI coordinator for the Southern Law Enforcement Foundation of Baton Rouge. For the past year, he has also been chaplain for the City of Natchitoches.
Doyle Bailey has been a Trustee of the Rapides Foundation, chairman of the board of the Inner-City Revitalization Corporation and the Renaissance Home for Youth and a founding board member of Central Louisiana AIDS Support Services.
He is a graduate of Louisiana College and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Barbara Bailey was a missionary to Argentina from 1965 until 1980. She worked as a clinical social worker at Renaissance Home for Youth in Alexandria from 1981 until 1987. From 1987 until 1997, she was a clinical social worker and social worker at Rapides Regional Medical Center in Alexandria. Barbara Bailey was director of Social Services at Rapides Regional from 1997 until 2000.
She worked part-time in the Senior Care Unit at Natchitoches Regional Medical Center from 2002-06. Barbara Bailey does volunteer work as a mental health professional for the Natchitoches Parish Sheriff’s Office and the Southern Law Enforcement Foundation.
She is a graduate of Louisiana College and holds a Master’s in Social Work from Louisiana State University.
