Person:Kenneth May (5)

[Alamance County_Feb 2006_backup.FTW]

BURLINGTON — Mr. Kenneth Nolan May, 90, of Burlington, died August 30, 2005, at Liberty Commons after a brief illness. He was born in Alamance County on February 20, 1915, to George Washington and Maggie Elvira Sykes May. On March 27, 1937, he married Georgia E. Shoffner, who was the daughter of Thomas Joyner and Mary Nora Shoffner. They treated him like a son. Kenneth was a quiet gentle man and once said, "If I don’t say it, I won’t have to take it back." He will be remembered for the unfailing love and care for his wife, Georgia during their sixty-seven years of marriage, especially during her final five-year ordeal with Alzheimer’s Disease. He was by her side every afternoon for 14 months while she was at Edgewood Place. From his father, he inherited a dry sense of humor and kidding that often made one unsure if his stories were fact or fiction. Kenneth went to work at May’s Hosiery Mill in his late teens and worked there until 1956 when a leg surgery forced him to leave the mill. He tried several jobs before he and friend, Arthur Foster, formed F. and M. Construction Company, which contracted the inside finish work for Kavanaugh Smith homes until he retired at the age of 65. Following retirement, he continued to demonstrate the characteristics he always exemplified…joking, supporting, caring, providing, and never complaining about anything. To all those who drove by or walked by his home, they marveled at the pretty gardens on each side of the house…how he loved to ride that tractor. He often said, "I just like to see things grow." If he wasn’t in the garden, you could be sure he was probably working on his ever present wood pile, splitting and stacking wood to be burned in Georgia’s wood cook stove and the fireplace. Survivors include two daughters, Geraldine Madison and husband, Bob, of Columbia, S.C. and Sandra Moore and husband, Buddy, of Burlington; one son, Dr. Ken May Jr.. and wife, Kay, of Chapel Hill; six grandchildren, Charles and Neil Moore, Dawn Walker, Mark Madison, Stephanie Armand, and Chris May; nine greatgrandchildren, Ryan, Jordan and Max Walker, Jacob, Patrick, Beverly and Christopher Moore, Bryson May, and Samantha Armand; one sister, Virginia Corbett and husband, Clyde; and one sister-in-law, Clara May of Burlington. He was preceded in death by his wife; parents; and two sisters, Elvie Elvira May and Joy Dare Isley; and two brothers, Doyle J. May and Roy E. May. He will be greatly missed by all of his immediate and extended families. The funeral will be conducted at St. Mark’s Church on Friday, September 2, 2005 at 2 p.m. by the Rev. Ben Bishop, and the Rev. Libby Inman. Burial will follow the service in St. Mark’s Church cemetery. The family will receive friends at the Rich & Thompson Mortuary in Burlington from 6 to 8 this evening, September 1, 2005. Memorials may be made to the Kenneth N. and Georgia S. May Scholarship Fund at the Dental Foundation of North Carolina, Inc., UNC School of Dentistry, Chapel Hill, N.C. 27599-7450. The family expresses heartfelt appreciation for all the support and care from family and friends. Special love and gratitude to Virginia and Clyde Corbett, Clara May, special friend David Eubank, and niece Bernice Shoffner who visited weekly, and like a daughter, was willing to help in any way she could.