John Bailey, 1942-2004
John joined the Navy in November, 1960 and took Basic Training in San Diego. He was accepted
into Admiral Rickover’s Nuclear Training School in Idaho. After graduation John was assigned to USS SSN 604 Haddo, a Thresher class fast attack submarine that was being fitted out at a shipyard across the river from Philadelphia. On his way to his first station he stopped by Wichita to marry Janice. Their daughter was born in the Philadelphia Naval Hospital.
When the Haddo was outfitted, its first crew was certified as Plank Owners. Haddo was ported in Charleston, SC in 1965. Since their first assignment was to put the boat through sea trials which lasted 10 months, Janice and baby Julia did not arrive in Charleston from Wichita until trials ended. Fast attack subs do not have a regular schedule like missile subs, which have blue and gold crews each serving for six months. Haddo had short notice of missions. The families were given no information or return date. The boat could not be contacted during a cruise because the missions were top secret. John worked with electricians in the nuclear area of Haddo. When in port, he had the duty every third day. These crews are selected for the
ir intellect, skills and personality type. In submarines, as soon as you qualified for all of your own tasks, you had to start qualifying for the tasks of every other person on board, because there probably would be no help from the outside for any disability or emergency. John loved his time on the Haddo, and all the men loved their captain.
At right: Thresher Class Fast Attack Submarine
After six years in the Navy, John and family went to Kansas State University so he could earn his B.S. in Nuclear Engineering. During this period John did work-study in Wichita with KG&E, while living at his in-laws (and learned to love golf) while his wife and daughter remained in Manhattan. After graduation in 1972, he took an engineering position with Babcock & Wilcox in Lynchburg, VA. The family moved there, but after six months he was assigned a temporary job in Clemson, SC to finish a nuclear plant B&W was building there. He was allowed to come home only one weekend a month, so after six months he asked for a permanent assignment in Russellville, AR. The family followed him to Russellville in about three months.
After working long hours, he closed the Babcock & Wilcox office two years later. He was given the choice to go to Miami, OH or Crystal River, FL. John wanted to go back to the home office, so he inquired of KG&E if they were ready to start plans for Wolf Creek Nuclear Generating Station. They were, so the family moved back to Wichita.
After a year of setting up the nuclear group in Wichita, John flew back to Westinghouse headquarters in Rockville, MD every week to help design a nuclear plant that five utilities had agreed to build. Only two identical plants were finally built. Wolf Creek near Burlington, KS and Calloway, MO. When the plant design was completed, KG&E asked John to lead the “A Team” to be a part of building the plant. He moved to Emporia and came to Wichita on weekends. Because Julia had not graduated from high school and Janice was teaching for #USD 259, Janice and Julia remained in Wichita. After two years Janice moved to Emporia in 1985.
John was site director for a year as Wolf Creek was being finished. When Wolf Creek Operating Corporation was formed by KG&E and KCPL, he served as VP of Engineering; when the plant started generation, he served as VP of Operations. When OneOk bought the gas division of KG&E to lower KG&E’s debt load, John was assigned to OneOk. Since personnel reductions were needed, he took a generous buyout. He then did contract work for Wolf Creek and later worked in Topeka for KPL as manager of their tech department.
John died at St. Francis Hospital on July 24, 2004. Janice moved back to Wichita in August, 2005 to be near Julia and the grandchildren.
Obituary
John Alan Bailey, formerly of Wichita, retired from Wolf Creek Operating Company and Westar Energy, died July 24, 2004, in Wichita. John was born November 5, 1942, in Stroud, OK to A. Dale and Alma Ellis Bailey. He graduated from Wichita High School East and served in the U.S. Navy.
What an article about John. He had such a productive life!
World is small. Decades after John joined Westinghouse nuclear, my wife was involved financing their efforts to improve SAFETY at a Czech plant, for which she faced Greenpeace activists complaining about nuclear power in general….John could have helped …