Mary Louise (Lu) White Bailey, a former resident of West Tisbury, died of natural causes in Folsom, Calif. on Jan. 17. She was 92.

She and her husband of 70 years, Frank (Bud) Bailey, lived on the Island from 1981 to 1995 and established Takemmy Farm.

Lu had a long and eventful life. She was born on August 24, 1930 in West Orange, N.J., the daughter of Robert Rombauer White Jr., M.D. and Sarah Cornwell White, who lived on Martha’s Vineyard in their later years. She had two brothers, Hank and Bob. She had a lifelong love of tennis and followed the tournaments all season long.

She graduated from Drake Business College in 1950 and worked as a secretary. Two years later, she and Bud married and set off for Texas, where Bud began a career as a petroleum geologist. They later settled in Lafayette, La. where they raised five boys.

After Bud’s retirement, the couple took over property on State Road in West Tisbury that was owned by Lu’s parents and they began Takemmy Farm. They grew flowers and produce, and raised sheep, fowl, hogs and llamas. Lu was a highly skilled knitter and sold goods made from their animal’s yarn as well.

In 1995, they sold the farm and moved to Santa Rosa, Calif. In the latter part of their life, Bud and Lu spent their summers off the grid in the Sierra Nevadas, living in a remote cabin accessible only by foot. Lu made the hike up there with a pack on her back well into her 80s. In 2017, the Tubbs Wildfire beset Santa Rosa and razed their neighborhood, narrowly missing their home, but Bud and Lu continued to live independently there for several years. Both survived cases of Covid and the ensuing nursing home lockdown at the start of the pandemic.

Her sly sense of humor and twinkle in her eyes will be sorely missed.

Lu is survived by her sons Timothy Bailey and his wife Kitty, Richard and his wife Mireille, Peter Bailey and his wife Kristina, Frank 3rd and his wife Cynthia, and longtime Islander Kenneth Bailey and his wife Abigail, as well as 13 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.

She was predeceased by her husband Bud, who died in his sleep at the age of 93 in April 2022.