Mary Louise May

Mary "Mitzi" Louise Baur May passed away the morning of June 21, 2023 at the age of 94, at Archbold Medical Center in Thomasville, Georgia. Mitzi was born April 25, 1929 in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. She grew up and attended school in Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania. Childhood adventures she has recounted included summers jumping from the bridge into a swimming hole in the Susquehanna River, trailing her beloved older brother Fred. In her early childhood they once lived in a log cabin in a CCC camp where her mother cooked all their meals in an open fireplace and her stepfather taught school to the camp workers. She learned clarinet so she could play in the high school marching band and don one of the flamboyant uniforms she so admired. She spent more than one night on a roof of the family home waiting for the flooding river to subside. Mitzi met her future husband, Jack May, in the local ice cream shop and they fell in love and married in 1949. They moved to Miami, Florida, where Jack worked for Eastern Airlines and Mitzi was an EKG technician at Jackson Memorial Hospital before being poached by Hollywood Memorial Hospital, where she worked until retirement as an EEG & EKG Department Manager. They had four children and raised all of them in Miami; the family spent much time boating, diving, and fishing in the Florida Keys before Mitzi and Jack retired and moved to Palm Bay, Florida to take care of Mitzi's mother. They made numerous RV trips up north and out west, visiting family, Native American festivals, and historic forts and ruins, indulging their passion for fly fishing all along the way. In 2005 they moved to Thomasville, Georgia to be near family, and Mitzi immersed herself in many of the programs with her church, Trinity Anglican, where she befriended so many people. Her benevolence to neighbors is something she will always be remembered for. Mitzi is survived by her daughters, Katherine M. Ryan, Elizabeth M. Martin-Vegue, and Margaret E. May and husband Bill Burgess; granddaughter Bridget Holt and husband Matthew, and granddaughter Haley Pearson; and great grandchildren Declan Holt and Madeleine Holt. Funeral services provided by Allen & Allen Funeral Home, Thomasville, Georgia; please see www.allenfh.com for information and tributes. Memorial service with reception following will be held at 2:00 p.m. Saturday, July, 1 at Trinity Anglican Church, Thomasville. Interment will be in Mountain Ash Cemetery in Laporte, PA. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Compassion Fund, Trinity Anglican Church, 325 W. Jackson St., Thomasville, GA 31792, 229-228-0390.