Wilma and Jim Baile
Jim and Wilma Baile had planned to gather with family and friends April 25 at the Warrensburg Church of the Brethren to celebrate their 90th and 80th milestone birthdays.
Their daughters, Becky Baile Crouse and Sarah Baile Steele, and families had planned to have a dinner and musically-themed celebration, but the coronavirus pandemic altered their plans.
Instead, friends and family from 10 states and Bogota, Colombia, came together online April 25 for a Zoom birthday party organized by grandson Jacob Crouse from his home in Washington, D.C.
After opening statements by the honorees, memories were shared by all five of the couples’ grandchildren, Stephen, Jacob and Christy Crouse and Abby and Aubrey Steele along with many others.
Jacob Crouse sang some of the couples’ favorite hymns and songs.
David Pearce won the trivia contest with the most answers about the couples’ history and shared stories from the Good Neighbor’s 4-H club when he was a member under the Bailes’ leadership.
Mark Pearce shared an original poem entitled “Ode by a Pig” written in 2006 when Jim retired from 50 years of hog farming.
The party ended with participants enjoying a cupcake in their respective homes.
Donations in excess of $1,500, matched by hospital executives, in honor of the couple assisted the Children’s Mercy Hospital Employee Support Fund to aid furloughed staff.
