Page 88 - January 2017

A BROAD AND LASTING LEGACY
Carolyn C. and Walter Bay: T. Bill Stables and Much, Much More
by Diane Rice
Walt & Carolyn Bay with their good mare Hot Cash 123
It’s not surprising, having grown up with horses as farm kids, that Carolyn and her husband, the late Walter Bay, parlayed their work ethic, knowledge and passion into a successful horse racing business known as T. Bill Stables. What might be surprising, however, is that they did so in sparsely populated Mid-Michigan, far from the Quarter Horse racing hubs of Oklahoma, New Mexico and California — and also, how much more they have contributed to the horse industry during their lifetimes.
The Bays were instrumental in overseeing Mount Pleasant Meadows while it was in operation from 1988 when T. Bill
Stables originated until the track closed after Walt’s death at age
75 in 2013. Walt had served as board member and president, and Carolyn had established and spearheaded education programs including Youth Days, that teaches kids from across the state about racing and the track, and Youth Racing, a day on which youths who qualified at their county fairs ran informal races and enjoyed a meal with their families at the track. “[Those programs] brought a different audience into the world of racing,” Carolyn says. “They brought people in that had never seen a race before.”
Beginning in 1959, Carolyn was active in educating youth through various positions with Michigan State University’s Cooperative Extension Service. She worked as the 4-H club youth agent for multiple counties and was Michigan’s first female 4-H agent. Carolyn then worked as a regional livestock agent, the district livestock agent for 48 counties, acting county extension director, and district livestock (equine) agent. She served for four years as Gladwin County’s extension director and then retired in 1992.
In his “real job,” Walt owned and operated Tandem Transport Trucking Company with offices in St. Louis, Michigan, and Michigan City, Indiana.
86 SPEEDHORSE, January 2017
Courtesy of David Bay