Anita Louise May, 85, of Huntsville, passed away Friday, December 6, 2024, at home.
Louise was born in McAndrews, Kentucky on the border of West Virginia to Eleanor and Douglas Horne, the first of three children. Her parents divorced when she was 8, so Louise became both sister and surrogate mother to her brothers Bud and Ronnie as her mother traveled to find work. Louise, Bud, and Ronnie stayed with relatives, and Louise learned early how to cook and care for children. She always had a strong bond with her brothers.
When Eleanor was able to find work in Williamson, West Virginia, Louise went to Williamson High School and proved herself to be a serious student and a member of the 4H Club, the Homemakers of America, the cheerleading squad, and secretary of the Senior class. Along with being a standout in her secretarial and business classes, Louise was voted “Friendliest Girl” in the senior class. When her best friend Janie May’s brother Chester returned from the Korean War and she saw him outside her typing class window waiting for Janie in his new Ford Fairlane, Louise said, “That’s the man I’m going to marry.” Three months later, on August 3, 1956, she did just that.
Louise and Chet moved to Huntington, West Virginia so that Chet could study engineering at Marshall University, using the GI bill. Louise worked as a secretary, and in 1959, added their first child, Jill, to the family. Upon graduation, they moved to Dayton, Ohio, where Chet would begin his career at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. During their early years in Dayton, the Mays would make life-long friends and welcome a son in 1962, Jesse, before moving to Huntsville, Alabama in 1966 to begin Chet’s career as a pioneer in Aeronautical Space Engineering at NASA. Louise began work at Huntsville Hospital in the records/bookkeeping department and found friendship and a church home at First Christian Church on Whitesburg Drive. In 1972, the birth of Jayna Louellen would complete their family.
Louise centered her life on her family and her church. After becoming the bookkeeper for First Christian’s Early Childhood Ministry, Louise soon became the Day Care Director, a position she would cherish for 26 years. Spreading love, learning, and fun among children, teachers, and parents, the program would earn a reputation for excellence, with parents forming lines outside the church on daycare registration day. For decades, Mrs. May would shepherd children and parents alike through those early years of growth. Everywhere Louise went in Huntsville, even after retirement, children (and the adults they became) would run for hugs from Mrs. May. Her daycare staff remained among her best friends along with others who enriched her life immensely in the First Christian Family.
Louise has always been known as the best cook, friend, mom, and nana anyone could ask for. As one of her many dear friends put it, “Our circle is missing a beautiful soul.”
Louise was preceded in death by her parents, siblings, her daughter, Jayna May Gillespie, and her beloved husband of 66 years, Chester B. May. She is survived by her daughter, Jill May Chadwick (husband, David); son, Jesse Duane May (wife, Carol); son-in-law, Woody Gillespie (wife, Jill) of Huntsville; grandchildren, Travis Heath Wood (wife, Jenny) of Atlanta, Morgan May Myers (husband, Taylor), Cody Bruce Wood (wife, Angel), Connor Jesse May (wife, Lillie), May Merrill Taylor (husband, Skylor), Maggie Grace May, all of Huntsville, and Katelyn Mei-ling Chadwick, of Burlington, Vermont; and great-grandchildren, Henry Travis Wood, Avery Gene Wood, Virginia May Myers, Wendell Shepherd Myers, Wheeler Jesse Myers, Rowan Bruce Wood, River Jessie Wood, Wilder Oaks Myers, and Jesse Charles May.
A Celebration of Life will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday, December 18, 2024, at First Christian Church of Huntsville.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to First Christian Church Early Childhood Ministry, Huntsville Hospital Hospice, or the Huntsville Learning Center.
