Ann Bailey, Co-founder of Bailey’s Fine Jewelry, Dies at 100

Ann Weaver Bailey, known to many as "Mama Ann," died Feb. 16 at the age of 100. She co-founded Bailey’s Fine Jewelry in Rocky Mount in 1948 with her husband, watchmaker Clyde Bailey Sr., and helped expand the business from a single downtown store to six locations, a growth JCK described as making it North Carolina’s largest jeweler.

Bailey was born June 21, 1925, in Nash County, North Carolina. Her father died of tuberculosis when she was 2 and her mother had died by the time she was 8; she was sent to live at the Oxford Orphanage in Oxford, N.C. Her family said that at the orphanage she tackled her chores with "vigor and fury" and that those lessons about hard work remained with her.

She met and married Clyde Bailey Sr. when she was about 18; Nationaljeweler reports he was roughly 10 years her senior and that he was a talented watchmaker. The couple opened Bailey’s Fine Jewelry in 1948, and Ann worked full time alongside her husband at a time when that was a rarity for mothers.

After Clyde Sr. died in 1963 at age 46, Ann, then 36, took over the store and became Nash County’s first female business owner. She ran the business herself until 1978, when she handed it to her son, Clyde "Clyde Jr." Bailey, ensuring the shop remained family operated.

Under subsequent family leadership the business continued to expand. JCK notes the company grew to six stores and that Trey Bailey, one of her grandchildren, serves as the current CEO. A company statement quoted by JCK said, "From an early age, Mama Ann learned that sometimes you just have to 'keep on keepin' on.' That quiet resilience became her way of life, and the example she gave to everyone who knew her." That statement also reflected on the company culture: what Bailey built "was never just about milestones or years; it was about people. About relationships. About showing up, giving back, and leaving things better than she found them.... We are endlessly grateful for her life, her guidance, and the example she gave us all."

Those who knew her remembered a lively community figure. Nationaljeweler described her as "young at heart, the life of the party, and a source of joy wherever she went." David Farris, president and CEO of the Rocky Mount Area Chamber of Commerce, called her "a pioneer and a trailblazer" and said, "She left her world better than she found it." An Instagram post noted, "The Triangle lost a remarkable leader this week when Ann Bailey died at the age of a hundred."

Ann Bailey is survived by her son Clyde Bailey Jr. (Jane), daughter Cindy Bailey, grandchildren Morgan Bailey Morgan (Doug), Trey Bailey (Marci), Gavin Stone, and Anne-Hunter Stone Stroud (Stuart), and great‑grandchildren Bishop Morgan, Weatherly Bailey, Ford Bailey, and Windsor Bailey.

Funeral arrangements are set for Friday at 1 p.m. at Edgemont Baptist Church in Rocky Mount. The family will receive friends Thursday from 5–7 p.m. at Wheeler & Woodlief Funeral Home & Cremation Services, 1130 N. Winstead Ave.; Revs. Mike Edwards and Thayer Stamper will officiate. A private family burial will be at Pineview Cemetery. The family is accepting flowers and memorial donations to Edgemont Baptist Church, P.O. Box 7293, Rocky Mount, NC 27803.

Her life traces a local arc from orphanage to family-founded business and multigenerational ownership; the Bailey name will remain attached to the Rocky Mount jeweler she helped build and to a community legacy of female leadership in the local business landscape.