Banker. Pastor. Missionary. Farmer. Those are a few words that represent parts of Eugene (“Gene”) Dailey’s life, but there are countless layers and stories that connect those pieces of his 100 years.
He was born at home in 1925, the fourth of six boys in his family. His baby sister was born when Dailey was almost 10. Their father was a tenant farmer near Union City, growing cotton and other cash crops — “a little bit of everything,” Dailey says. “Corn was the hardest thing,” Dailey adds. “The corn went to the barn. The stalk was waste so you cut it to pieces with machines. Then you pulled the leaves and tied them into bundles to feed the horses and mules.”
“They were salt-of-the-earth kind of people,” says Dailey’s daughter, Helen Elrod. “He talks about how much work went into getting that many boys clean on Saturday night for church on Sunday, how much water they had to boil for the washtub.” Dailey’s mother died soon after his sister was born, but he has sweet memories of her at home with them and watching her make biscuits and fried pies from scratch. “We ate off them all day,” he says. He also tells of visiting his grandmother on Sunday afternoons and how she would quiz the children on what they’d learned at school that week. They knew she was satisfied when she’d say, “You know where the teacakes are,” and let them grab a cookie on their way outdoors to play.
After graduating from high school, Dailey took a job in the interior department at C&S Bank in Atlanta. He moved in with an uncle who lived on the trolley line so he could get to work. It wasn’t long before a coworker introduced Dailey to Madalia Beard, a young woman who worked in the bank’s bookkeeping department. Dailey says the introduction was partly because the coworker knew they were both interested in attending Mercer University.
Dailey and Beard were both accepted at Mercer. They began college, married two years later, and were expecting Elrod when they graduated with their bachelor’s degrees in 1948. “I like to say I crossed the Commencement stage with Mother,” she says with a laugh. During his time at Mercer, Dailey served as a part-time pastor at churches in Irwinton, Geneva, Egypt, and other small Georgia towns. That helped him set his sights on his next goal: attending Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He earned his Bachelor of Theology degree there in 1953 and pastored several churches from 1953 to 1968.
“Dad has always been a gung-ho kind of guy,” Elrod says. His success in leading and recruiting people for projects such as constructing new education buildings at the churches he pastored prepared Dailey for a career with the Georgia Baptist Convention (GBC). He began working in the GBC’s Sunday school department in 1969. Later, he became head of the Brotherhood Department, a missions-based branch of GBC that promoted work through the Southern Baptist Convention and the Foreign Mission Board. The job involved working with mission partners across the globe.
“Dad was responsible for getting volunteers from Georgia to help with partnerships in Africa, South America, and other areas,” Elrod says. “He could always find enough people who were willing to pay their own way to these countries and volunteer for free to get the work done. He would travel to work right there with them. My brother Robert and I grew up with visiting missionaries at our table telling the most amazing stories about places all around the world,” Elrod says. “Those were such rich years. I didn’t realize until much later what a gift that was.”
Dailey’s next role with GBC was focused locally but just as important: overseeing the Royal Ambassadors program, which provides education and service opportunities for boys in first through sixth grade. When the GBC wanted to build a new RA camp “north of Georgia’s gnat line,” as Elrod says, Dailey negotiated the deal to acquire land for what became Camp Kaleo in Forsyth. Elrod says he spent Saturdays for more than a year helping build the camp’s log cabins, dining hall, and more. When the camp later added a building for the snack house and offices, it was named in Dailey’s honor. “It turned out to be a beautiful place,” Elrod says.
Dailey wanted to return to his small-town roots after retiring from GBC in 1991. He and Madalia moved to Henry County, where they lived on a farm outside McDonough. He cultivated a large vegetable garden, which led to plenty of produce for canning, freezing, and sharing with others. They also had blueberries, a pecan orchard, and, Elrod says with a smile, “one cow.” The surrounding woods and creek provided space for their grandchildren’s outdoor adventures. It reminds Dailey of one of his favorite summer pastimes as a child: picking out a watermelon and either setting it in the creek to get cold or popping it open immediately to eat the heart of the fruit.
But the garden wasn’t the only way Dailey filled his retirement days. Full bookshelves show he’s a voracious reader. His kitchen includes a collection of wooden rolling pins he made. Framed photos he’s taken of birds, mountain scenes, and family members are displayed throughout his home—but that wasn’t a new hobby of retirement. “Dad has always taken pictures,” Elrod says. “He made a pinhole camera and took pictures on their honeymoon.” And where did they travel for that? “To a church to do a revival.”
That’s no surprise, considering how important Dailey’s faith has always been to him. Accolades cover the walls of his office, evidence of thanks for work he has done and the impact it carries (including an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from Mercer University in 1987 in recognition of all his mission work over the years). Yet Dailey is quick to say he’s the one who’s fortunate. From church projects to worldwide mission efforts to family and friends spread around the globe, Dailey sums up his life in one simple sentence: “I have a lot to be grateful for.”
By Leigh DeLozier