Daniel Gene May

“So many people come into our lives then leave the way they came. But there are those precious few who touch our hearts so deeply we will never be the same.”  Author unknown

Daniel Gene May, 69, passed away, April 9, 2016, of a rare pulmonary disease.

Dan was born in Dalhart, Texas on November 13, 1946, to Anna Jean Hulsey May and Linzay Quinten May. He moved with his brother and mother to the Holdenville, Oklahoma area when he was around 2 years old and always claimed being from the country around Holdenville and that being `home’.  As Dan grew up, he lived with his grandparents and attended Atwood Public School and then Moss Public School. During those years, Dan loved to hunt, fish, swim, and do the usual boyhood things. Dan learned from his grandpa that a man was only as good as his word and there were no gray areas! Not lying and accepting responsibility for what he did was always of the utmost importance to Dan, and you always followed through with what you said.  During his high school years Dan played baseball and was a pretty good player. (At one time he tried out for the “farm” team in Memphis, Tn., and received a call-back! Unfortunately, the family had decided to move and he never knew what might have come from that call.) He graduated in 1965 and attended Wilburton Junior College for one semester.  Then he joined the United States Navy during the Vietnam war.  After basic training and survival school, he was stationed aboard the USS Ranger aircraft carrier. The first time he saw the Ranger, he said he had an unforgettable sense of pride that he was going to be a part of something like this.

It was during this time that he would meet his future wife. Daniel Gene May and Sandra Lee Sims May began their life journey together on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 1969. Dan had always said he would never date a redhead, and he ended up marrying one! They had three children who he was very proud of, Daniel, James, and Richard. Dan and Sandra were married 47 years. Dan had several hobbies and ventures that he tried over the years and everything he did, he did to the very best of his ability. He built, from scratch, and flew radio controlled aircraft, built platforms for N-Gauge railroads, raised cattle, bantam chickens, a quarter horse, 3 or 4 different kinds of mink, made and sold hunting knives from scratch, and grew Cabernet Sauvignon grapes for wineries in the area.

Dan always put a lot in family, both current and the past. He had reconnected with cousins and relatives he played with as a young boy, and often he and Sandra went to reunions, dinners, and get-togethers where they would all reminiscence and have a great time. Sandra used to say she wished she had a recorder because all those good ole stories were going to be gone with this generation.

Dan wrote a short autobiography for his children to read someday. He closed it this way: “I will say I’m proud of all my kids and all their children. I wouldn’t change anything. I’ve seen my children grow to adults and have children of their own. I don’t see how I could ask for any more than that. I married a good woman, had three good sons, and now have 7 grandchildren and am waiting for tomorrow to see what the day brings. LIFE IS GOOD!!!!!! I LOVE ALL OF YOU WITH ALL MY HEART.”  At the time of his death, Dan and Sandra had 3 children, 7 grandchildren, 2 step-grandchildren, and 2 great-grandchildren.

Dan and Sandra had agreed several years ago that they would be cremated, their ashes mingled, and scattered, half in the Illinois River where they loved to camp and fish, and half in the Pacific Ocean. At that time, a Military Marker will be placed in the National Cemetery at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma.

Dan was a Christian and had been baptized into the Baptist Church. He and Sandra were members of a Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee. Dan has gone to his heavenly home to await his family, (and catch that BIG CATFISH that he didn’t get here).

Dan is survived by his wife, Sandra Lee May, his children, Daniel Layne and wife Lori Adams, James Boley May, and Richard Lee May, his grandchildren, Christopher James May, Cameron Lee and wife Tara May, Michael Scott Torian, Daniel Thomas Adams, Zackary Dillon May, Sarah Frances Adams, Joshua Daniel Adams, Laney Rana Griffith, Abygale Lee May, and his great-grandchildren, Emersyn Grace May, and Benton Alexander Lee May. He is also survived by his brother Ed and wife Marge May, his step-mother Liz May, his half-brothers, John and wife Terri May, Charles May, Rick May, his half-sisters, Dolores Storie, Ruth and husband Thomas Meeks, and Lisa and husband Paul Williams, and a whole host of family and friends who will miss him tremendously.

Dan was preceded in death by his grandparents that raised him, Matt and Fate Hulsey, his mother and step-father, Anna Jean and Frank Martinez, his father, Linzay Quinten May, a sister-in-law, Shirley May, and a brother-in-law, Kim Storie.

Sandra told her husband when they were married, “All my love forever and always!”, and the last thing she told him before he passed, “All my love forever and always, and more!”

The family requests that you leave your memories, funny stories, and comments.