Bennington Vt — William Edward Dailey Jr., passed away on June 28, 2019, at Southwest Vermont Medical Center. He was born in North Bennington, Vermont, on January 24, 1924, the first of four children of William E. Dailey, Sr., and Mildred Parker Dailey. Growing up in North Bennington, he spent many days working with his father, Bill, Sr., in the general contracting business where he learned there was nothing he couldn’t accomplish if he put his mind to it. He attended local schools and was graduated from North Bennington High School in 1942.
He attended the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, until the advent of WWII, when he enlisted in the U.S. Navy on December 11, 1942. He served in the Pacific as the only Vermonter aboard the USS Windsor (named for Windsor County, Vermont). He was awarded the World War II Victory Medal, the American Area Medal, the Asiatic-Pacific Area Medal, the Philippine Liberation Area Medal, and the Good Conduct Medal. He was honorably discharged April 13, 1946, and returned to the University of Notre Dame where he completed college in 1948
June, as Bill was often called, returned to Vermont and rejoined his family construction business. He was instrumental in the growth of, and devoted to his family’s construction business, W.E.Dailey, Inc., as they successfully became the first ready mixed concrete business in the State of Vermont.
He married the love of his life, Mary Agnes Scarey at St. Johns Church in North Bennington on Thanksgiving Day, 1949. Together they raised six children and found time to extensively travel the world. They were married for 69 years and as he liked to say they were in their 70th year always together.
He held a private pilot’s license and enjoyed flying his Cessna 210. Bill served on the North Bennington High School Board for many years. He is a past president of the Bennington County Industrial Corporation, and past president of the Associated General Contractors of Vermont. He served over 30 years as a member of the Board of Directors of the Bennington CO-OP Savings and Loan, now known as The Bank Of Bennington. He was a member of the American Legion for over 70 years and the Knights of Columbus since 1945. He was a longtime member of the Cambridge Breakfast Flakes.
In the ‘80s he and Mary relocated to Hedges Lake, NY where they continued to reside until the past year when they again relocated to Fillmore Pond in Bennington.
Bill is survived by his wife Mary S. Dailey of Bennington, children and spouses, Marilyn (John) Woodard of Shaftsbury, William E. III (Linda) of Burlington, Thomas (Marna), of Shaftsbury, Richard (Patricia) of Shaftsbury, Terence (Kathleen) of Seminole, FL, and Carol (William) Kelley of Millis, MA, 18 grandchildren, and 21 great grandchildren, and his sister Elizabeth D. Riley of Bennington. He was predeceased by a granddaughter Jessica Dailey, his sister Patricia D. Cooke and his brother Donald J. Dailey.
Calling Hours will be Wednesday, July 3, from 4pm to 7pm at the E. P. Mahar and Son Funeral Home, 628 Main Street, Bennington, VT. A Mass will be held 10 a.m. Friday, July 5, from St. Patrick’s Church in Cambridge, NY, with interment to follow at St. John The Baptist Cemetery in North Bennington, VT.
If friends desire, contributions in memory of William E. Dailey, Jr., may be made to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital or Shriners Hospitals through the office of the Mahar and Son Funeral Home, 628 Main St., Bennington, VT 05201. Guest book condolences may be made at www.maharandsonfuneralhome.net.
