Memorial services are scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 12, at Riverside Funeral Home in Albuquerque for June Ann May.
May, 86, passed away Tuesday, June 6, 2017, following a lengthy illness.
Interment will follow the services a few days later in Artesia.
June was born June 8, 1930, in Artesia to Mattie and Howard Gissler. When she was 11, the family moved to a ranch outside Artesia, and she lived there until going away to school.
June joined the Girl Scouts in 1940, and while working as a hospital aide as part of a Scout activity, she was first introduced to nursing. She loved it right away and decided to pursue it as a career.
In 1950, June enrolled at Northwestern State University in Shreveport, La., in the school’s new Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree program. She was the school’s first graduate of the program in 1953. She was always very proud of that accomplishment.
While in Shreveport at a school dance, she met her future husband, James “Jim” M. May Jr. The two were married in March 1954 and later moved to Albuquerque.
June worked as a RN at Presbyterian Hospital and later became a health occupations instructor at TVI, teaching in the Nursing Assistant program. She was a tough but fair-minded teacher, and the program graduated many capable nurse’s aides. She retired in 1986.
While being a full-time nurse and later a full-time teacher, June also took wonderful care of her family and home, raising three children. She was a troop leader in the Girl Scouts of America as well as being involved as a parent in all school and other activities.
June loved to travel, and as part of nursing exchange programs, she visited hospitals and clinics in China and Russia. She and Jim also travelled extensively in the U.S. and internationally, and enjoyed every minute of it. She truly had a remarkable life and career!
She was a great wife, mother and grandmother, and we will all miss her.
Survivors include sons Alan May and wife Dawn Sleeper, and Jay May and wife Patty; daughter Paula Gatewood and husband Richard; and grandchildren Gillian, Christopher, Alexander, Sydnee, Forrest and Wright.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Mattie and Howard Gissler; brother Bill Gissler; and husband James.
The family wishes to thank the great caregivers at Visiting Angels and at North Ridge Alzheimer’s Special Care Center for their loving and passionate care over the past several years.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial contributions in honor of June Gissler-May be made to the Northwestern State University Foundation, Nursing Scholarship Fund, 535 University Parkway, Natchitoches, LA, 1497; or a charity of choice.
