Bailey Penn

Talented Electrician, Entrepreneur, and Veteran are some of the occupational titles associated with Bailey.

Bailey Campbell Penn was born February 24th, 1949, in East End, Tortola.  For those unfamiliar with this tiny island, it is the gem of the British Virgin Islands.

He grew up in a large family, number four of his seven siblings and son to Reoul Kitchener Penn and Nettie Lettsome Penn.  Life proved difficult in his formative life and those of his immediate family, as they were of meager means.   He credits his special cousins, Jack and Bernice Brody, for leaving an indelible impression on his life by means of food, assistance, good cheer, and companionship.

They had to learn to be resourceful to earn a decent wage and ultimately feed the clan.   This was through the means of selling things, “plaiting bottles,” and other odd jobs.  Bailey’s job also included the arduous task of walking daily as a messenger from East End to Road Town, which was not easy. He and his siblings were fiercely devoted to providing for the family.   This would mean that he and many of his siblings would have to shorten their formal education in order to sustain the family unit.  While he worked hard, it never inhibited him from his early pastime of waging bets on boat races.  The excitement of forecasting winning outcomes was an escape from the life of poverty in the family endured.

As a skinny teenage boy, he eventually received jobs in hotels in St. Thomas and Virgin Gorda.  He enjoyed working in these environments as he met different people, the work wasn’t as arduous, and he would sometimes receive tips.  His slight frame was of great concern to his employers, and they wondered if he had parents and was able to manage the work presented to him.  His thin stature invoked the community to call him “ Spaghetti.”  Despite his fragile image, he proved to be an employee with a great work ethic and was able to contribute to the family earnings.

Eventually, the sage advice from his older brother, Basil, “Junie” Penn, would be a pivotal moment in his adulthood.  Simply put, he was encouraged to see the world and built a craft, a trade, particularly the vocation of an electrician.    Bailey embraced his brother’s advice and enlisted in the Navy with some trepidation yet respect.  He enjoyed seeing various parts of the world that only a small island boy could dream up.  In the Navy, he was responsible for steering the ship on which the naval aircraft would land.  It required great precision, skill, and discipline.   He was eventually honorably discharged in 1970 and had his eyes set on leveraging the life lessons he amassed and building a craft.

He emigrated to Edison, New Jersey, for a short stint through a learn-on-the-job program.  It was there that he could begin his journey as an electrician.  He eventually leveraged his new found skills for one of his first jobs at Levinton Manufacturing, where he posited his apprentice skills on the job. This would also be the company in which he would meet and marry his beloved, Rita Thomas, on September 10, 1971. He would become the stepfather to three of Rita’s children, Stephen, Monica, and Donna Matamoro.   In  March 1973, he would be a father for the first and only time to Melinda.

With a wife and development of skills, he advanced to progressively difficult electrical jobs by the level of scope, seniority, and company reputation.  His tenure at Con Edison in Brooklyn, New York, would leave an indelible impression on him as he learned how to manage high voltage work within high stake assignments.   Bailey made a life in New York for many years and sought the opportunity for something greater, which made moving to Houston, Texas, an alluring prospect. Jobs were abundant and represented a place of possibilities when New York became a dangerous, blighted place to live in the 1970s.

 

In Houston, Bailey joined a union and enjoyed the fruits of his labor through promotions, raises, and elevated opportunities.  After seven years, the family returned to New York, where he continued to be gainfully employed in New York.  However, one fateful day in Brooklyn, he was robbed and stabbed, bolstering his resolve to return to his homeland of Tortola.  

  He worked on many government electrical jobs in which he sponsored employees across the Caribbean diaspora for completion.   He found great joy in teaching his trade and being recognized for his unique work, which few could do.  His international exposure to the vocation served him well.   He loved being around his cousins, nieces, nephews, and friends.   He was so astute with the family tree that he would count up to the “7th cousin” on both sides. 

In his spare time, if he wasn’t debating, discussing politics, writing for the newspaper, giving out candy, or having a drink with a friend, he was visiting those he was endeared to.   For the last fourteen years of his life, he led a life of sobriety and was eventually able to free himself from the vicious cycle of alcoholism.

He returned to the U.S in 2015 when his wife, Rita, was diagnosed with cancer, and he became the primary caretaker for her until her death.  Prior to that, his love for Tortola was so deep that he was content with a life of commuting between the United States and Tortola.  One could speculate his time away from the United States could be attributed to his love for his island and his near-death experience in Brooklyn decades ago.

In the end, he made the most of his twilight years, going on family vacations, movies, and comedy clubs.  His daily predictable routine of chatting with his apartment neighbors and doling out candy did not falter in the end. He found joy in gaining a community of friends in house-dwelling.  The words “Candyman,” kind, funny, and intelligent, were echoed by many of his neighbors.

In the end, he lived a flawed but bold life. A life of color, a life of interesting turns, a life on his terms.

Our native son is gone but not forgotten.