After 11 years as nanny to a Ruxton family, Gerry Bailey wanted a change. So last year she became "Wonder Woman," the super-temp of homemaking.
The 52-year-old Hamilton resident doesn't fly around in a skin-tight red, white and blue costume like the comic-book heroine, and she doesn't do walls and windows -- but she will tackle almost anything else around the house, including outdoor Christmas decorations.
Confident of her ability, Ms. Bailey adopted her nickname to capitalize on years of experience as mother, grandmother, nanny, beautician, restaurateur, real estate saleswoman, prize-winning cook, caterer and gardener.
"The name Wonder Woman works well," said Amy Macht, for whom Ms. Bailey worked as a nanny until the Macht children began to attend school. "The more herculean the task, the more she rises to it. The more of a production there is, the better she does it.
"She's fun and entertaining to have around. She tells a story wonderfully, and she's so full of energy. The children adore her," Ms. Macht said.
This year, Ms. Bailey catered a 50-guest party at the Harbor Court Hotel for Jodie Foster when the actress was in Baltimore directing a movie about a dysfunctional family's Thanksgiving.
That led to a Thanksgiving dinner for Ms. Foster -- on Valentine's Day.
"Her favorite holiday is Thanksgiving, so her staff hired me to do the dinner. She came home [to her hotel suite] from work and there it was. It was wonderful," said Ms. Bailey, who resembles actress Angela Lansbury.
Ms. Bailey has worked for Joan Wisner Carlson since she delivered her third son three months ago. "This is the most I've been mothered in many years," the Mount Washington resident said. "She comes on Thursdays with a menu and she shops up a storm for four meals and whatever other groceries I need.
"When she leaves, one dinner is on the table and the others are ready to go when needed," Mrs. Carlson said. "We're actually saving money and we're eating healthier. She's a genius. When she's not cooking, she's in my cupboards organizing them. This woman has so much energy."
As the only child of a working couple in Dundalk, Ms. Bailey was setting up the family dinner by age 10. "By the time I was 12, I was making the whole dinner and loving it," she said.
After high school, she worked as a beautician on weekends until her children were old enough to take care of themselves. Then she started selling real estate in Anne Arundel County while moonlighting as banquet manager of a motel-restaurant.
She has an absolute "need" to cook, however, so when relatives put their waterfront restaurant, Captain John's on Clinton Street, on the market, she and a friend bought it and changed the name to Ship's Inn.
"We catered to longshoremen and truckers, and they are the greatest guys in the world," Ms. Bailey said. "We were told they would be rowdy and loud, but they weren't. They loved the food, and they would stand in line to help when something needed to be fixed."
As the cook, Ms. Bailey rose at 4 a.m. daily to get ready. Along with the fresh salads, cakes and pies, the restaurant offered "the things guys love," she said -- meatloaf, beef stew, pot roast with gravy and mashed potatoes and chicken pot pies. "They just ate it up," she said.
"It was a hard business and it was tough work, but I learned more in that five years about myself, just what I could do," Ms. Bailey said.
She left the restaurant after a disagreement with her partner. "I made a discovery a few years back. I had to be the boss; I didn't want anyone breathing down my neck," Ms. Bailey said.
She decided to combine her two favorite occupations, taking care of babies and cooking -- she was the Maryland winner in the 1978 and 1993 National Beef Cook-off -- to invent a new job for herself.
With a handful of replies to an ad in The Sun offering to care for newborns at their homes and to prepare the main meal of the day, she interviewed the families. "It wasn't whether they would hire me but whether I would work for them," she said.
No one was above a three on a one-to-five scale until she met Ms. Macht, the last one on her list, Ms. Bailey said. "I worked for her for 11 years. It was painful to leave, but the kids had gone off to school."
It was then that "Wonder Woman" came into being, Ms. Bailey said. "You name it, I can do it or I can find out how to do it."
The catchy sign on her van announces that she does cooking, organizing, gardening, baking, grocery shopping and cooking classes. It also warns: "I'm great, but I am not cheap."
