Following a 15-year stint with the Woodville Rotary Club, Mr Bailey later became involved in social justice issues within the Catholic Church through the Palmerston North diocese.
"I became one of the representatives on a national commission for the church for justice, peace and development, a role I carried out for six years," he said. "I'd learnt to stand up and speak out when I was on the council and then became involved with the Woodville Gorge Cemetery in 1996."
Devoting so much time to the cemetery and researching the history of those buried there is almost a full-time occupation and Mr Bailey admits he couldn't do the work without the help and backing of his wife of 55 years, Josephine.
"When I go out the door she jokes I'm off to golf. It's the same sort of addiction. I'm very lucky to have a wife who is so understanding," he said.
When the old gorge cemetery was full the Tararua District Council re-opened an earlier cemetery in Pinfold Rd, fencing off the old cemetery and leaving stock to run amongst the graves.
"The headstones were knocked down and when a genealogy group from Tararua College went there they were disgusted by what they saw. It galvinised the Rotary Club to have a working bee," Mr Bailey said. "As a district councillor I helped and after four working bees, five or six of us decided to form the Friends of the Gorge cemetery group."
A guided tour of London's Highgate Cemetery in 1998 by Mr and Mrs Bailey was the catalyst for the Friends group to start taking tours of Woodville's Gorge Cemetery where up to 1600 town pioneers are buried.
"We were able to get the council to assist in the upkeep at the cemetery and now people doing community service for the Corrections Department help," Mr Bailey said.
The cemetery which was once a ruin, is now acknowledged as being very beautiful and of historical importance.
But the turnaround in the cemetery's fortunes hasn't been without a few shaky moments, including the 6.2 magnitude Eketahuna earthquake in February.
"Headstones had fallen over and broken and it was like putting a jigsaw back together again. But we've saved them from being lost."
Mr Bailey, one of the founding directors of Dannevirke company Morris and Bailey, was able to use his bridge building experience to repair the headstones.
Last year, although close to 80, Mr Bailey visited the Solomon Islands to help build a hostel for trade trainees on Guadalcanal.
"I've five children and 16 grandchildren who are always asking granddad to help fix this and that," he said. For more information and to nominate, visit prideofnzawards.co.nz
