Mel Bailey walked the Great Wall of China; he dined in the banquet halls of such luminaries as the Archbishops of Oslo, Norway and Leningrad, Russia. Equally he brought cigarettes every Tuesday to a blind man in an Ancaster nursing home and spent long nights by the side of dying saints and sinners. A beloved husband and father who walked in pastures green and in the valley of the shadow. This is our Mel.
In the Book of Proverbs 22:6 is written, "Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it." Influenced by godly parents and four uncles who served as Presbyterian ministers, it was no fluke that he was baptized with the name Melville, legendary Scottish Presbyterian divine and defender of the faith.
Mel grew up in the shadow of historic Dundurn Castle, Hamilton, Ont., its lawns his childhood playground. He did not have the advantages of wealth or superior education, working as a delivery driver and clerk for Canadian Pacific Express on minimal salary, and possessing no academic degrees.
He was nourished morally and spiritually through his family, Erskine church and the Christian Endeavour Society, which led him as a mature man to recognize a Call to the Ministry of Word and Sacraments. No small decision, with no bankroll, no Greek or Hebrew, no Arts letters behind his name, hitchhiking month after month to classes at Knox College, Toronto, and the discrimination he on occasion felt as a so-called special student, ineligible to be awarded a theological degree.
Mel's call to the ministry coincided with the 1950s post-war expansion of the visible church and the decision of Presbytery to establish a new congregation in rapidly expanding suburbia around Upper James Street, Hamilton. There are those who remember him canvassing the neighbourhood, the first service in the old Masonic Hall, Mel cleaning and putting up the chairs, with only a handful at first responding. Now look to the beautiful South Gate church and its fine congregation — Mel's pride and joy — the Church of Jesus Christ.
Also consider his contributions to the recording and publicizing of the history of his hometown. The Hamilton Spectator called him the "grand old man of Hamilton history." Historians and scholars pay tribute to his far-sighted dream to produce the Hamilton Dictionary of Biography, where, as editor, four volumes have been produced and a fifth is being written at the present time. A rare feat — the only municipal dictionary that any city in Canada has produced. His annual gifts of time and money to charities large and small would put many of us to shame.
Almost 40 years ago, Mel was appointed to the General Assembly's Committee on History, and served at various times as a member up to the present, especially in the office of secretary. In 1975, the Presbyterian Church in Canada celebrated its centennial. Mel Bailey collected hundreds of photos depicting the denomination's life and mission and published a most reader-friendly volume at his personal expense. To the publications of the Presbyterian History Committee, whether the four volumes of Called to Witness or the two volumes of Gifts and Graces, the stamp of Mel Bailey is deeply imprinted.
When Mel was first appointed to serve the church nationally, the Presbyterian Archives consisted of a few boxes on the top floor of the stacks at Knox College. Following in the footsteps of George Douglas, Neil Smith and John Moir, Mel was appointed in 1981 the official archivist, on recommendation of the Committee on History and decision of the Assembly. From 1980 to 1997 he would drive as a volunteer, to Toronto, accompanied for a time by his dear wife Janet, spend the day in the archives with Kim Arnold, cataloguing collections, answering research inquiries.
A few hours before the death of our brother, we were working all afternoon in his living room on revisions for a history of the Synod of Southwestern Ontario. Dr. Bailey's 31-year ministry at South Gate Church, his 45 books and articles, the plaques that adorn Hamilton's historic sites, the sermons delivered, addresses presented to the Canadian Society of Presbyterian History, historical societies and organizations, the example he set for all of us — his personal piety, a listener, a gentle soul, a quick wit, a master of the one liner, always self-effacing, ready to step back and give to the others credit, a friend to all, we honour his memory. Now he lives on in each of us — a family touched by this great and good man, God's man for ever and ever. Amen.
