Bailey’s Fine Jewelry Matriarch “Mama Ann” Dies

By Rob Bates | February 19, 2026

“Mama Ann” Bailey, who cofounded Bailey’s Fine Jewelry and helped turn it into North Carolina’s largest jeweler, died on Feb. 16. She was 100.

Born in Nash County, N.C., Bailey lost both her parents by age 8 and grew up in an orphanage in Oxford, N.C. As a young girl, she completed her chores “with vigor and fury,” after deciding that “hard work was the best remedy for hardship,” according to a company statement.

“From an early age, Mama Ann learned that sometimes you just have to ‘keep on keepin’ on,’” the statement said. “That quiet resilience became her way of life, and the example she gave to everyone who knew her.”

At 18, Ann met and married Clyde Bailey Sr., a talented watchmaker. The couple had two children and in 1948 founded Bailey’s Fine Jewelry in Rocky Mount, N.C. The business grew quickly, with Ann working full-time—a rarity for mothers in those days—alongside her husband.

In 1963, Clyde Sr. died tragically at age 46. Ann, just 36, took over the store, making her Nash County’s first female business owner. She kept running it until 1978, when she handed over the reins to her son, Clyde Jr.

Yet even in retirement, as Bailey’s grew from one store to six, Mama Ann “was very much the family matriarch and gave her opinions loudly and clearly,” the company statement said.

In 2017, when Bailey received a Women in Business award from Triangle Business Journal, she relished her role as an industry trailblazer.

“In those days, it was a man’s world in our business,” she said at the ceremony. “I heard a short while later that the jewelers in town, who were all men, gave me two years before I’d be out of business. They were so wrong. All those other jewelers kept going out of business, and we’re still going strong, better than ever.”

Her final words to the crowd: “Let it be heard—loud and clear—that you never underestimate the power of a woman.”

Sandy Roberson, mayor of Rocky Mount, told the Rocky Mount Telegram that Bailey had “a wonderful life. She has a wonderful legacy. And the continuance of that story is still with us.”

The Bailey’s Fine Jewelry statement said that what Bailey built “was never just about milestones or years; it was about people. About relationships. About showing up, giving back, and leaving things better than she found them…. We are endlessly grateful for her life, her guidance, and the example she gave us all.”

Mama Ann is survived by Clyde Jr. and her daughter, Cindy; four grandchildren, including Trey Bailey, the company’s current CEO; and four great-grandchildren.

Memorials can be made in Bailey’s memory to Edgemont Baptist Church in Rocky Mount.