Journey Through the Generations
Uncover Your Roots: Exploring Ancestry & Family History
My paternal grandmother, Gladys Denson Mays was born on June 11, 1913 in Newport, Arkansas. She was the oldest of her siblings. She decided at a young age that her education was important, and she wanted to become a teacher. She moved to Little Rock, Arkansas at the age of 14 to complete grades 10-12... Continue Reading →
My paternal grandfather, Booker Mays, was born on February, 10, 1910 in Mississippi. He lived in Mississippi until the 1930s when he moved to Missouri. He worked for the Missouri Pacific Railroad while in Missouri and after he moved to Arkansas. He married Gladys Denson in 1939 and started a family in Newport, Arkansas. He... Continue Reading →
My Mother was born February 12, 1952 to Gus and Ernestine Wright Hatchett. She is the youngest of her father's six children and the only child of her mother. She graduated from W.F. Branch High in 1970 and attended the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. After she married my Dad, Wayman Mays, she moved to... Continue Reading →
My father, Wayman Allen Mays, was born February 28, 1951 to Booker and Gladys Denson Mays. He was the youngest of their three children. He graduated from W. F. Branch High school in 1969 and Philander Smith College in 1973. After graduating with a bachelors in education, he worked in Little Rock for the Boys... Continue Reading →
St. Paul AME Church; Newport, AR 116th Church Anniversary Program 1996
My grandfather (second from the right) and his singing group in the 1940s - Photo courtesy of the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies
Photo courtesy of Jackson County Historical Society
My Aunt and Uncle (my father's siblings)
Mrs. Iona Oats and Gladys Denson Mays (my Granny) - Photo courtesy of the Butler Center of Arkansas Studies
Aunt Lela, Aunt Ninnie, and Uncle Jimmy
On Friday, November 13, 2020, my father, Wayman Allen Mays, passed away after a hard fought 12 year battle with colon cancer. Over the past 12 years, I was with him through several surgeries, radiation treatments, and countless amounts of chemotherapy. He never really talked about his cancer or complained about what he was going... Continue Reading →
Journey Through the Generations 