Johnine Bailey

Johnine Lynn Bailey passed away on July 17, 2022 at age 56. She will be greatly missed by her family and friends. She was an intelligent, beautiful, athletic and fun-loving girl who was courageous to the end fighting a horrible disease, depression. For 40 years this disease defined her life, but she never stopped fighting it as best she could. Her family and friends admired her tenacity and strength as she fought to make her life the best it could be and very much on her terms.

Johnine was born in Dayton, Ohio March 9, 1966. She moved with her family to Attleboro, MA then to Plano, TX in 1980. In 2017 she bought a house of her own in Pleasant Grove, Texas, where she lived until her death. She graduated from Plano Senior High and studied at the University of North Texas. While attending UNT she was invited by a coach to join the University track team as a walk on where she competed against high-level competition. A distance runner she never gave up, just as she fought her illness, for some 40 years. She was hospitalized and treated in 1990 where she was diagnosed and medication and therapy continued as
part of the rest of her life. The depression disability qualified her to receive Social Security Disability Income (SSDI) off and on for the remainder of her adult life. This was a godsend for her, as it is for many others. This meager SSDI stipend, supplemented by what she could earn herself, allowed her to approach the normal life we all seek.

I am sorry to say our "great" state of Texas is not so great at caring for disenfranchised and disabled Texas citizens like Johnine. The cost, quality and availability of health care for mentally ill citizens in Texas is among the bottom 5 of our 50 states. Legislative funding and political priorities do not favor this already struggling
group. There were times care was not available, but our Johnine fought on. She loved most sports. Played soccer and basketball in school. Ran races with her Dad. Swam with her sisters. Cooked with her Mom. Loved pets. Loved cooking. Loved music. She loved to laugh, often when she was
tickled by some small thing that no one else noticed. Despite the stigma and difficulties associated with mental illness, she made the most of her life that she could.
We all should aspire to achieve that as well as she did and strive for the resiliency she modeled in spite of her illness.

Johnine is survived by her sister Monica Green, and her sister's husband Derrick, sister Sondra Beamon and her parents Helen and John Bailey.