William H. Bayles was born and educated in West Virginia. He eventually entered Southern Baptist Theological Seminary at Louisville, Kentucky, obtaining a Master of Theology degree in 1908. In 1921, after serving several West Virginia churches, he came to South Dakota to head up the Sunday School and Young People's work. He served North Dakota churches in the same position from 1926-1942 when he then retired from Christian educational work.In 1943 he was instrumental in re-organizing the Mitchell Baptist church after the membership voted to disband.

He served as the South Dakota Baptist Convention president during the war years (1942-1944), and was elected honorary Convention president for life in 1950. During those war years clerical passes made train transportation quite attractive. His conservative nature was noted as he would choose the upper berth for sleeping at $4 a night, compared to the lower berth at $5 per night.

Of particular interest here was the commissioning by the convention to prepare a history of South Dakota Baptists as part of the convention's 75th anniversary in 1956. The Board of Directors specified that the history should be limited to the convention, rather than including other conferences which had been merged over the years. Dr. Bayles presented the first part of his extensive manuscript Finer Than Fine Gold: The Faith and Fellowship of South Dakota Baptists at the convention. This manuscript, covering the years 1900-1950, was later put into book form, and coincided with the Bayle's own 50th wedding anniversary.

He was deeply involved with both the Bear Gulch and Mt. Rushmore Camp Judson locations. During his years of service Camp Judson and Dr. Bayles became almost synonymous among South Dakota Baptists. He did much of the work in building the camp at Lake Pactola (Bear Gulch) himself! Because of men like Dr. Bayles, South Dakota Baptists stand a little taller. He was not a one-sided man. His particular field was Christian Education, but he was as much involved in evangelism, stewardship, and missionary endeavors as he was in his field. He loved, believed in, and promoted the church's entire program.