Samuel Thomas MAY

MAY

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 6/23/2011 at 16:28:07

July 6, 1866 -- April 19, 1929

S. T. May died at Rochester. Was former superintendent of Hawarden Schools. For a number of years had been President of North Dakota State Normal at Dickinson.

S. T. May of Dickinson, N. D., former superintendent of the Hawarden public schools, died in a hospital at Rochester, Minn., last Friday [April 19, 1929], following an operation which was performed on the Tuesday preceding. Mr. May had been in ill health for several months. Last winter he submitted to an operation at Dickinson but this did not provide the desired relief and when his condition failed to improve he went to Rochester for an examination and treatment where his death occurred. The remains were shipped back to Dickinson where interment took place.

Samuel T. May was born at Defiance, Ohio, and was 65 years of age. The greater part of his adult life was spent in educational work. He was a graduate of Valparaiso University of Valparaiso, Ind., and held degrees from other educational institutions. Prior to coming to Hawarden in 1901 he had served for a number of years as superintendent of schools at Clarion, Iowa. For eight years he served as head of the Hawarden schools and his stewardship here was very successful. After being re-elected for his ninth year here, Mr. May resigned in the spring of 1909 in order to accept the superintendency of the schools at Madison, S. D., where his work proved to be so outstanding that a number of years later he was chosen as president of a North Dakota State Normal School at Dickinson, which position he has since filled with distinction. His last visit to Hawarden was in 1925 when he delivered the high school commencement address.

News of his death came as a distinct Shock to his many old Hawarden friends few of whom had been appraised of his illness. He numbered among his Hawarden friends hundreds of former pupils who knew him as a true friend and adviser and an earnest Christian Gentleman. During his residence here, in addition to his school duties, he was active in affairs of The Methodist church. He was possessed of a genial nature and the happy faculty of making and holding friends. Besides his widow, he is survived by three sons, Max of Creighton NE, Don of Willow City ND, and Al of Montana. All three sons are engaged in the teaching profession.

Hawarden Independent - Hawarden, Iowa
April 25, 1929