Bayless, Charles P.
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Bayless, Charles P.
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REV. CHARLES P. BAYLESS, 72, of
Detroit, a r etired member of the Detroit 1
Conference, died November 20 after a sixmonth illness. Born August 4, 1897, he
graduated from Detroit Eastern High
School, attended Michigan State College
(now MSU) and rec eived a Bachelor of
Arts degree from the University of Mich- ·
igan in 1922. H e m arried Ha zel Keeble
in October of 1919. Following two years
on the staff at St. Luke's Mission, Detroit,
he attended Boston University School of
Religious Education and Social Science
after receiving a scholarship from the 1
Methodist Board of Home Missions. While
in Boston, h e was employed on the staff
of The Church of All Nations and later
assigned to Trinity House, Cambridge, a
church-centered Social Settlement, wh ere
h e was Head Resident. He returned to
Detroit and became associa te minister of
St. Mark's Church in October 1925. In
the following years he served pastorates
at Lansing First; Pontiac City Parish ;
Deckerville ; Cass City; Durand; Detroit
Ford Memorial ; Belleville; Detroit Campbell Avenue ; and Mayville before r etiring
to his home in Detroit in 1961. Then he
served on a limited basis as miruster of
visitation at Plymouth First Church and
briefly at Detroit Central. H e served on
the Conference Board of Pensions, 194561; and several years on the Board of
Education as well as th e Social Action
Committees which laid the ground wor k
for the present Confer ence Board of Christian Social Concerns. H e had been president of m inisterial associations in Detroit
and on the Port Huron and Ann Arbor
districts ; Wa rrendale Community Council, Detroit ; and Rotary International in
Belleville. He also served in various capacities on the staffs of Methodist and
Interchurch Christian Youth Camps a nd
Institutes. After the dea th of his fir st
wife, he m arried Elsie Ayers, then Methodist Youth director on the Ann Arbor
District, who survives. Other survivors include six children by the two marriages
and 12 grandchildren./~-!/-;,
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Charles Bayless Retires,
To Continue Ministry
FTER se rving cont inu ous ly for 42
yea1·s in t he ministr y as a member
of t he Detroit Conference, Rev. Charles
Bayless r etired at the current session of
t ha t conference to ta ke up work as a
r etired-s upply pastor a t Plymou th beg inning next September. He a nd Mrs.
Bayless will live in their home in the
Greenfield-Plymouth area \d t hin easy
commuting dis tance of the Plymouth
church where he will team up with Rev.
Melbourne John son.
A
A native of Detroit, Charles graduated
from Detroit Eastern High School to
· spend t hree years at the Univers ity of
Michigan, r eceiving hi s A.B. degree in
1922. W hil e a s tuden t at Ann Arbor,
he married Hazel Keeble. Both had
Rev. Charles Bayless
been active in Epworth League work a t
St. lVIark's Church, Detroi t, and were
Chris tian Vocation Volun teers under
Bis hop Theodore S. Hen derson. After
serving L\vo years on the s taff of St.
Luke's mission in Detroit under the
Board of Miss ions, Mr. Bayless took two
yea rs of grad uate study at Bos ton Univers ity School of Education and Social
Science, made poss ibl e by a Home Miss ions s cholarship. W hile in Bos ton, the
couple were employed by t he Church of
All Nations a nd la ter at Trinity House,
Cambridge, a church-center ed s ocia l
settlement.
In the s pring of 1925 Charles and
H azel r eturned to Detr oit a nd that. fall
he was appointed as an associate to the
staff of St. Mark's, Detroit, with Dr.
"Jim" Thomas and "T ed" E vans. The
next year he beca me an associa te with
Dr. Ra lph Pierce a t t he old Grand River
lA ter some interim a ppoin t' ments1 Mr. Bayless wa s appointed t o
Deckerville, Durand and Ford Memoria l,
Detroit . These three pa s tora t es accounted for 19 years of his .minis try. Other
appointments wer e: Belleville; Campbell Ave., Detroit; and Mayville. Two
sons, Chru:les Edward and Warren Dean,
a re active. church members; t he fo r mer
in a small Methodist church in the Detroit ar ea and the latter in an Episcopal
church,. New York City. lVIrs. Bayless
died during t heir pastorate at Campbell Ave. a nd Mr. Bayless married Elsie
Ayers in 1955, a Youth Director on the
Ann Arbor Dis trict and well known for
long-time service in district activities
and the Woman's Society. She has
four g rown children: Robert, Barbara,
Alice and Audrey.
Charles and E lsie have s pent the last
four year s in the pastorate at Mayville
where the church has grown in numer·
ical and financial strength and t he:
feel the time is ripe to turn the wor
over to younger hands although lVL
Bayless has not reached the traditional
retirement age of 65. A fai·ewell party
wa s held Sunday afternoon, June 4, honoring the couple.
Space does n't permit a listing of all
of Mr. Bayless' leadership activities
through the year s. He has h eld offices
in Rotary and ministeria l associations.
For his a ss is tance to Alcoholics Anonymous he was g iven a n " honorary m embers hip."
Church camps have been
among his s pecia l in teres ts in which he
has served as ins tr uctor, bus iness manager a nd dean. He is a ccr edit ed to teach
t hree s tanda rd courses under the General
Board of Education. Several conference
boa rds ha ve claimed him a s a m ember
notably the Board of P ensions wher e he
has g iven long est and mos t active
~ erv i ce.
Bayless, Charles P.