Albert Andrew May, 97, died Oct. 30, 2011, at Stacyville Community Nursing Home after a long and full life.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be 10:30 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 3, at Visitation Catholic Church in Stacyville with Father Jack McClure, C.P.P.S. officiating. Burial will be in Visitation Catholic Cemetery with military honors conducted by Hale Penney Fuller Post 569 of the American Legion. Visitation will be 4 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, with parish prayer service at 7 p.m. at the church.

Albert (Al) was born May 30, 1914, to John P. and Margaret (Hackenmiller) May on the family farm northwest of Meyer. He grew up with a sister and six brothers. He attended Sacred Heart Catholic School in Meyer through eighth grade, continued his education at Hemphill Diesel School in Chicago and correspondence courses, and in 1974 earned his GED certificate. Life on the May farm included much music; his father ordered musical instruments for his children from Sears Roebuck and organized an at-home band. Al played saxophone and clarinet and learned the basics of the piano keyboard from his sister. As a teenager, Al played with area dance bands. His interest in music continued throughout his lifetime: as a founding member of and 40 years with the Forte Milers barbershop chorus, choir director at Visitation Church in Stacyville, playing with the Rollo Sissel and the Henry Charles dance bands, and delighting audiences with old-time melodies at area banquets and events.

Al’s other talents included a passion for working with machines. He was most proud of the half-scale Reeves replica steam engine he designed and built. The engine chugged through Main Street parades in Lyle, Stacyville, and other locales, and delighted young and old demonstrating portable sawmills, corn shellers and hay balers at area fairs and engine shows. Al also restored a massive diesel engine for the Cedar Valley Engine Club. In his early 20s, Al managed the diesel generators at St. Labre Indian Mission in Ashland, Mont.

Al served in the Navy in 1943-1945 aboard Yard Mine Sweeper 113 and on the attack transport USS Rockingham in the South Pacific.

Al was blessed with two devoted families. He married Angela Pitzen on Aug. 5, 1944, at Visitation Church in Stacyville. They lived in California while he was stationed in the Navy, and upon return to Stacyville, they purchased Falk’s Hardware Store and operated it as May’s Hardware for 20 years. He was a member of Visitation Parish, Knights of Columbus, Catholic Order of Foresters, Stacyville volunteer fire department, Stacyville City Council and Commercial Club, and the American Legion. They built a home northwest of Stacyville after the sale of the hardware store, where they lived until after Angela’s death from cancer in 1975.

On Oct. 10, 1980, Albert married Elizabeth (Betty) Halbach Brown and gained a new family of four daughters and a son, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Al and Betty continued their involvement with Forte Milers, American Legion and Visitation Parish and enjoyed many sightseeing trips. In 2007, Al and Betty began residence at Stacyville Community Nursing Home. Betty passed away in 2009, while Al lived out his final two years under the compassionate and loving care of the staff at the Home. In 2009, Al made one final grand trip on the Honor Flight to Washington, DC with World War II veterans. He collected many wonderful memories through his long and interesting life. He enjoyed the visits from friends and family at SCNH, reading his stack of daily newspapers and nonfiction books, and sharing a glass of beer or wine at the end of the day.

He will be missed by his May family: son, Dennis (Elizabeth) May of Ankeny; daughters Sherilyn (Bob) Thome of Little Falls, Minn., Paula (David) Prescott of Walker, Minn., and Marcia (Jack) Seip of Woodinville, Wash.; nine May grandchildren; their spouses; five great-grandchildren, and his Brown family: stepson Tony (Sharon) Brown of Stacyville; stepdaughters, Carol (David) Hopkey of Grinnell, Iowa, Eileen (Dan Palmer) Rosenberg of Belleville, Wis., Marian (Mike) Hegland of Cedar Rapids, Iowa; 10 Brown grandchildren; their spouses, and 13 great-grandchildren.

He is survived by his sister, Julia Koenigs, 104, who resides at SCNH and brother, Ernest May, 100, of Colorado Springs, Colo.

He was preceded in death by his wives, Angela May and Elizabeth Brown May; infant son, Leslie Albert; stepdaughter, Paulette Brown (Bob) Harrar, and his brothers, Roman, Ray, Alois, William and Joseph.