My life will NEVER, EVER BE THE SAME AGAIN!!!

Denton theater director dies
Eric Bailey, 40, acclaimed for turning Denton High into competitive program
07:23 AM CST on Monday, November 14, 2005
By Ava Thomas Benson / Staff Writer
Eric Martin Bailey, director of Denton High School's Theatre Arts Department, was found dead in his home Sunday morning. He was 40.

Eric Bailey
Bailey's teaching career in the Denton school district began at Calhoun Middle School in 1997. He moved into his role at Denton High the following year and has taken the school's one-act play to Uni­ver­sity Inter­scholastic League state competition four times in the past eight years. Bailey, a popular teacher, is credited with making Denton High's theater program competitive.
Russell Cox, a Denton High junior, said Bailey was a key figure at the high school.
"It's like the death of an era," Cox said. "Bailey was our theater department and that's just gone now."
In February, Bailey won the Greater Den­ton Arts Council's Community Arts Re­cognition award for education. He was a University of North Texas graduate, served as the interim director for Denton Community Theater during the summer and had lead roles in several of the theater company's productions.
Cox said Bailey was close to his students.
"The last conversation I had with him was about my grades," Cox said. "I used to go to his house and watch movies sometimes. He was really like a brother to me -- a big, 40-year-old brother."
Denton theater students gathered at Cox's house Sunday to grieve, he said.
Kerri Peters, a Denton High senior, said it was helpful to have someone to talk to.
"I think us being together right now is really helping everybody out and kind of relieving some stress," Peters said.
Peters is president of Denton High School's International Thespian Society and has been involved with the theater department since her freshman year. She said she called many of her peers to tell them the news.
"Their first reaction was like mine was, it was ‘What are you talking about?' and ‘That's not possible,' and then breaking immediately into tears," Peters said. "I think we're all just st! unned. He was really inspiring all around as a teacher and as a friend."
Denton school district officials are ensuring that counselors are available for students who want or need them, Denton Superintendent Ray Braswell said.
"He did a wonderful job with the theater program," Braswell said of Bailey's effect on the school. "He was high-energy, very personable and very likeable. He had really taken the theater program to a new level."
School board member Rick Woolfolk said Bailey inspired him to learn more about the district's arts programs.
"The more I got to know Eric and the work that he did with the kids, the more I supported the program," Woolfolk said. "He took a program that had been maybe OK, and he took it to best in the state."
Most impressive was Bailey's ability to work with the students, Woolfolk said.
"The kids just worshipped him a! nd would go out of their way to achieve the level that he exp! ected ou t of them, and he had very high expectations," Woolfolk said. "He had a compassion and an ability to connect that was extremely good."
School district spokeswoman Sharon Cox said the district would set up an Eric Bailey fund through the Denton Public School Foundation. Donations can be made in Bailey's name to the Denton Public School Foundation, 1307 N. Locust St., Denton, TX 76201.
The school district has also canceled Monday night's performance of Ryan High School's play, Never the Sinner. It would have been the closing performance for the play.
AVA THOMAS BENSON can be reached at 940-566-6875. Her e-mail address is abenson@dentonrc.com