Ol'Harry

MUSIC MAJOR WITH UNUSUAL CAREER PATH

Having known Bob Mays for several years on the Greensboro senior golf circuit, it was surprising to learn his first real job was teaching high school music in Aurora, Ohio.  “I put on the first minstrel show in those parts.  The folks there had never seen anything like that before, they ate it up,” he recalls.

Sensing the surprise remained, he presented his college diploma – East Carolina Teachers College, BS in music education.  

VOCALIST BOB MAYS AND BAND LEADER DON TREXLER

Next were photos performing with the Don Trexler Singers, and others singing with opera star, Beverly Sills.  “I had the captain’s role in H.M.S. Pinafore at the Lyric Theater at the Town Hall,” he added.  I was a believer long before he mentioned his longtime involvement with the Greensboro Oratorio Society.

Mays grew up in Hopewell, Virginia, where he played football, ran track, and worked part-time at the post office.  He had never heard of ECTC scholastically, but had heard the school had loads of good looking girls. 

Post-war dormitory rooms were in short supply.  As a freshman, Mays and a buddy rented a room in the home of a Greenville lawyer and Congressman.  As an ECTC senior, Mays married Lina Weddington, the lawyer’s daughter.  Lina Mays died in 1997.  The Mays’ progeny includes two children, three grands, and four great-grandchildren.

Mays doesn’t fit the mold of the typical music major.  He had joined the Marine Corps in 1943 on his 18^th birthday.  His stops in the South Pacific included Guadalcanal, Pavuvu, New Caledonia, and Okinawa.  In a surprising match of experience and training, Mays was assigned to Headquarters Postal Section.

On Easter Sunday, 1945 – Okinawa D-Day -- Mays learned stretcher-bearers and riflemen were more in demand that postal personnel.  “For weeks, I helped bring back wounded Marines from the front to the shore and placed them on boats bound for hospital ships.  It was a long, laborious process – so many of them didn’t make it.  What we would have given for helicopters to do what we did!” 

While the loss of many Marines and soldiers on Okinawa still wears on Mays, he remains empathetic towards the U.S. Navy, “The kamikaze attacks were devastating.  We spent many nights in foxholes watching our ships defend themselves.  Sometimes, it was as if a fireworks display was being put on just for us.”

After the island had been secured, Mays returned to his postal chores, “Some troops had not received mail in over sixty days.  Huge stacks of mail had accumulated.  We eventually got it distributed and made lots of Marines happy.”

About the time mail call was caught up, training began for the invasion of Japan.  That became moot when the atomic bomb dropped in August, 1945.

If Mays thought the formal surrender of Japan meant a ticket home, he was wrong.  His unit boarded a troopship bound for China, where thousands of armed and undefeated Japanese soldiers awaited repatriation.  Duty as a China Marine was enjoyable for Mays, he was back in the postal section again.

In March, 1946, Mays was discharged.  He planned to enjoy Hopewell for the spring and summer.  The Hopewell post office had other plans, “They found out I was home and told me to come back to work immediately.  We only had one rural route and only two of us knew where everyone lived – the other guy hadn’t had a vacation since I left.”

Back at ECTC, Mays was vocalist for the dance band and selected to Who’s Who Among College Students.  He was befriended by the president of the college, Leo Jenkins, who had also been a World War II Marine.  Jenkins befriended other Marines as well.  “He even signed us up as an unorganized Marine Corps Reserve Unit.”

Then came the Korean War – the unorganized group of Marine Corps Reservists were called back on active duty.  “I spent two years at Camp Lejeune, primarily teaching GED English and math skills.”

After his brief career as a music teacher, Mays joined New Dixie Lines, a Richmond, VA trucking company owned by a cousin.  He became operations manager for NC, which brought him to Greensboro. 

Mays joined Pennisi Insurance Company and eventually became part owner.  He purchased the company upon Pennisi’s untimely death in 1969.  The business was quite successful over the years.  Of the many honors Mays has received, his recognition as ECU Alumni of the Year in 1973 is his favorite.  In 1999, Mays sold his agency to BB&T.

It was a cold, snowy day when I visited Bob Mays.  Multiple Zebco fishing outfits were rigged, ready and stashed in the living room – evidently for warmth.  On a wall nearby was a mounted largemouth bass of trophy dimensions.   “I know of an old mill pond up the road that is absolutely loaded with big bass like this,” he excused.

MAYS PREFERS FISHING OVER GOLF NOWADAYS

Mays is a member of Irving Park United Methodist Church.  Yes, he has a longtime affiliation with the choir.