June 20, 1026 – March 10, 2023
Leslie Christene Rhynes was born June 20, 1926 in Merkel, Texas to Jesse Lee Rhynes and Goldie Mary (Crawford). Christene, her mother and older brother, Jesse Byrle lived on the family farm in Merkel with her maternal grandparent after her father was killed in 1928. Her mother married Calvin Hawkins (a widower) in 1932 forming a family of seven with “Cal’s” three children and Goldie’s two. The family would eventually grow to 13 with the addition of six more children.
The family eventually settled in Menard, Texas in 1937 where Christene would meet the love of her life, George Oscar Artilus (Tillus) Bailey, when she was 11 and he was 13. They were married on February 27, 1943 and became a couple that truly were “one”. They welcomed their first son, Archie, on February 26, 1944. After moving to Lamesa, Texas in 1948, they welcomed their second son Danny.
The family moved to Brownfield, Texas in 1955 where Tillus worked as a glass glazier and Christene was a homemaker. Christene went to work for the Brownfield I. S. D. as a cafeteria worker in 1963, first working in the junior high school cafeteria. After transferring to high school in 1964, she returned to the junior high after four years and would remain there until 1990 when her health required that she retire.
She loved working in the cafeteria, loved Brownfield and most of all, loved Tillus. They remained in Brownfield until Tillus’s death in 2004 when she moved to the Houston, Texas area to be close to her son and grandchildren.
Christene was a caregiver by nature. Being the oldest girl in the large family, she cared for her younger siblings. She always cared. About everybody. She was never harsh and never had a bad thing to say about anybody.
Christene is preceded in death by her parents, her husband, G. A. Bailey, her son, Archie Dean Bailey, four sisters and five brothers.
She is survived by her son, Danny Lee Bailey and wife Marsha of Tomball, Texas, her brother, Samuel Hawkins and wife Christine of Uvalde, Texas, her sister-in-law, Brenda Gale Hawkins of Leander, Texas, four grandchildren, Tracy, Kristopher, Jonathan and Trenity, eleven great grandchildren, seven great, great grandchildren and nieces and nephews too numerous to count.
Her ashes will be interred at the Rest Haven Cemetery in Menard, Texas at a later date.
