John Wentworth "Jack" May
Marriages
Alma Jean Tourney - 1952
Burial Details
Obituaries
Steamboat Today - March 14, 2010
John “Jack” May, 79, passed away peaceably Feb. 26, 2010. He was born and raised on a cattle ranch near Steamboat Springs. He was the youngest of five siblings born to Fred and Anna May. His surviving sisters, Frances Dorr-Wheeler and Helen Stonebrink, and other relatives reside in Fruita.
Starting in a one-room school called Fly Gulch, Jack continued his education in Steamboat, where he was five times elected president of his class. He graduated as student body president in 1949 from Steamboat Springs High School. He went on to earn an AS from Mesa College, where he was vice president of the student body and met his future wife, Alma Jean Tourney. Jack and Alma were married at Cal-Poly, San Dimas, Calif., in 1952 and returned to Steamboat to ranch on the Elk River for eight years. While ranching, Jack was very active in the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. Aside from being an expert fly-fisherman, Jack enjoyed trout fishing and hunting mule deer and elk.
Jack returned to college at Colorado State University in 1960. He was involved in student affairs at CSU and was a member of the Ag Council, several ag science fraternities (Alpha Tau Alpha, Alpha Zeta and Sigma Zi) as well as Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Kappa Phi. He earned his Ph.D. in Plant Physiology and was an assistant professor at CSU until he graduated in 1968.
After completing his Ph.D., Jack and his family moved to St. Louis, where he worked for eight years in research and development covering the Midwestern states at Shell Development Co. He did technical support for Shell in several states before moving to Shell’s Biological Research Center in Modesto, Calif., as the coordinator for new herbicide development. His work there with Shell allowed him to travel extensively throughout the southeastern states and abroad, to England and South America on special assignments.
In 1986, Shell sold its agricultural business to DuPont, so Jack and Alma moved to Maryland, where he was the herbicide development manager. They returned to California, where he managed a research facility in Fresno. After retiring from DuPont in 1990, he worked as a consultant for Western Farm Service for 14 years, retiring again in 2004.
Jack will be remembered by his peers as “Cowboy” because he wore Western clothes, boots and a hat throughout his professional career. He leaves his loving wife, Alma T. May; two sons, Sandford W. “Sam” May, of Astoria, Ore., and John M. May, of St. Louis; two daughters, Mary E. May, of Los Osos, Calif., and Jennifer L. Bosso, of Santa Barbara, Calif. He also leaves his six grandchildren, five great-grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews.
Contributions may be made in memory of John W. May to the National Kidney Foundation: 30 E. 33rd St., New York, N.Y. 10016, or to Hospice Partners of the Central Coast in San Luis Obispo, Calif.
