Paul Bayless, 84 of Grand Chain, IL, passed away on Tuesday, April 5, 2022 at Baptist Health Paducah.

Funeral services will be held at 1:00 p.m. on Thursday, April 7, 2022 at the Aikins-Farmer-Loftus-McManus Funeral Home with Rev. Ben Hottel officiating. Burial will follow in Hillerman Baptist Church Cemetery.

Paul was a 1955 graduate of Joppa High School, then moved to Chicago to work at a paper mill. When he left the paper mill, he started as an apprentice meat cutter and became a butcher. Paul worked for Jewell and A & P as a butcher for 20 years where he ended as a market manager. He retired from the meat industry in 1985 and moved back to Southern Illinois and started a new career as an over-the-road truck driver until his retirement in 2002. It was then that Paul began his real passion and retirement plan of gardening and growing his orchard and selling produce at farmer's markets with the help of his wife Glenda. Paul was a member of Hillerman Missionary Baptist Church and a supporter of the NRA. He was a loving husband, father and grandfather and will be truly missed.

Paul is survived by his wife of 35 years, Glenda (Abernathy) Bayless; daughters, Nancy Kommer, Debbie Messer (Larry) and Karen Marquiss (Edward Kleckner); grandchildren, Joseph Kommer, Ryan Krueger (Trenton) and Nicole Messer (Chris Fox); sister-in-law, Betty Bayless; nieces, Louise Blanchard (Gig) and Cina Blankenship (Luke); and several great nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Harlie and Cina (Stubblefield) Bayless; brother, Louis Bayless; grandchildren, Russell Lyda and Curtis Lyda; son-in-law, Jeffrey Marquiss; and niece, Linda Bayless.

Visitation with the family will be held from 11:00 am until 1:00 pm on Thursday, April 7, 2022 at the Aikins-Farmer-Loftus-McManus Funeral Home in Metropolis.

Condolences may be left online at www.aikinsfarmer-millerfh.com.