Jennifer Lee (Bailey) Smith

Jennifer "Jip" Lee Smith

1973-2020

On July 7, 2020 our world stopped, not because of COVID, protests, riots or Government, but because we lost a light in our lives that shined so bright, we believed nothing in this world could put it out. Jennifer was born July 18, 1973 to Rex and Lynda Bailey. Her father gave her the nickname “Gypsy” early in childhood and somehow Jip was derived, she would be our Jip or Jippy forever.  She fought her cancer for ten years with no complaints, only gratefulness, as she would say “I am so glad it is me with this fight and not my children”. She brought joy to everyone she came in contact with.  At Taussig Cancer Center, she would change into her gown, enter a quiet heavy room filled with worry and sadness with 6-8 other cancer patients waiting and drinking their awful tasting contrast. She would pull out her Crystal Lite packets, pass them out to all like they were little bottles of liquor she was giving her friends to mix in their drinks and suddenly the room was awake and everyone was talking and laughing. She was selfless, a giver, genuine, witty, incredibly funny and sarcastic at the same time. Jip made everyone feel welcome, secure and comforted in her presence. She loved making people smile and laugh.

The beach was her place of freedom and relaxation. After every bad doctor’s appointment, Jip would ask her husband and sister “Where are we going next?” By the end of the night she had looked up a destination and had it booked the next day.  She loved vacationing with her family and spending hours talking and laughing with her sister while working on jig saw puzzles after a long day at the beach. It was usually her son Gavin’s antics that threw them into laughter. They often traveled on adult vacation getaways with family and friends to celebrate life in the sun, sand, and surf. If traveling could be listed as a hobby, all who knew her would agree, it was her greatest love after her husband and children.

She married her soul mate and best friend Jason and spent twenty-five years of her short life with him. They lived every day like it was their last day together. They worked hard to build a great life that afforded them the ability to travel and make the most of their time together. If Jip said “Let’s go”, Jason made it happen. He would always tell her “Jippy Jip, you’re my one in a million, there is nobody like you”.  As the cancer became more aggressive, Jip and her sister would spend hours and hours researching alternative treatments outside her care at the Cleveland Clinic. Jason would follow them at what ever cost in trying everything to keep her here as long as possible; their love will last an eternity. They had three children, Bailey, Payton and Gavin. They were her motivation in her fight to stay as long as she could. She would set all future big achievements to come in their lives as her goals to be present for them, as if they were points on a graphed time line that she needed to meet. She said “Bay has the biggest heart and full of humor like me. Paytie is maternal like me, she is going to be the best mother to my grandchildren one day, and Bubby (Gavin) loves to work hard and makes people laugh like me”.  They were her focus and love in this world.

She was a hard worker. She and Jason bought a building right in the middle of downtown Bedford that would house their successful Gioninos Pizzeria. As Jason will tell you “Jip built that store to what it is today”. She didn’t just own and operate the pizzeria, she built relationships within the community with customers, other business owners and a personal relationship with her staff. She told everyone her staff were her other set of kids, they were all family. They respected and cared about her as she did them. People would stop in the store just to have coffee and check in with Jip to see her smile, share a laugh, bring her tomatoes from their gardens and catch up on how things were going. She built real meaningful friendships in that store.

She has left a mark on so many she leaves behind to cherish her memory and boy do they have some good memories. She made certain she touched everyone so deeply that it would be impossible to forget her. She threw the best parties every year to gather friends and family for laughter and fun. Always taking action to give others an experience of fun and uncontrollable laughter, like most recent, after reading her cousin Danielle’s facebook post about wanting someone to wake her in the night to go do something fun and crazy. Jip waited until well after midnight, went to her home, woke her, and took her out to TP a couple of Aunts’ homes. She didn’t call it TP, she called it yard pretties! She was so happy to become a Great Aunt and let all know he would call her G.A Jip. She will be missed dearly by her four-legged child Ollie, her tight group of cousins and girlfriends, and many other friends and family members. If there was anything she would want said in this obituary it would be “truly let go of the small stuff, show your love to others, say hello to the person sitting alone, make a new friend everywhere you go, nobody is better than the next, live the best life you can doing all that is important to you and laugh.  Kindness and Laughter are truly the best we all have within us!

Loved ones that cleared the path for Jennifer are her father Rex Bailey, mother Lynda (Caudill) Llewellyn, mother-in-law Bernedette Kline, grandparents Douglas and Ruby Caudill, and Vera and Sam Newkirk. Loved ones that will miss Jip until they meet again are her husband Jason Smith; her daughters Bailey Smith and Payton Smith, her son Gavin Smith; step-father Randall Llewellyn; sister Kellie (Jeff) Kapusta, brothers Rex Bailey and Doug (Jessica) Bailey; Brother-in-Laws Chris (Amanda) Smith, Jaime Smith, and Gregory (Gabrielle) Messina; nieces and nephews Chelsie (James), Emerie, Keegan, Wyatt, Carson, Ella, Rilee, Ashton, Mathew, Alyssa, Olivia, Vincent, Santino; and great nephew Rowan.

Per Jip’s request, there will be nobody standing around crying at calling hours in a funeral home. The family would like to welcome all to a Celebration of Her Life July 19th at 3pm, The Overlook, 1519 Overlook Road, Kent.

Services in care of Bissler & Sons Funeral Home and Crematory, 628 West Main Street, Kent, OH 44240.

FAMILY     LOVE    LAUGHTER

LIVE FOR TODAY AND HOPE FOR TOMORROW