Martha May
Martha May was a very private woman who did many good things for many people. She wanted always to remain in the background, anonymous, wanting neither recognition nor accolades. How many more such people there are like that, we’ll never know. Martha is being recognized, in part, as a representative of those people.
Martha was born in 1908 at Gravel Switch in Boyle County, Kentucky. Her parents, James and Betty May, came to Estill County in the early 1920’s where they kept camp cars for men working on the L&N Railroad in Ravenna. Martha graduated from Estill County High School and later attended business school in Lexington. She worked for several years as an L&N stenographer in the Ravenna Division Office. Later she worked for pharmacist ‘Doctor” Waldo Wylie as an apprentice pharmacist in his drug store in Ravenna. She was granted her pharmacist license in 1934. She purchased the Ravenna Drug Store from Wylie’s widow in 1945 and operated it until her death in 1991. When she died, she was the oldest female pharmacist in Kentucky.
Martha was open seven days a week and closed only on Christmas and Thanksgiving. If you wanted a prescription filled at midnight, Martha would oblige you. She never turned a customer away because of money. She would say, “If I didn’t fill it and they died, or something bad happened, I would never get over it.” After the store was closed, over thirty thousand dollars in unpaid tickets were torn up. Not only was Martha a pharmacist, she also served as a doctor of need. If a kid got banged up or cut up, she would patch them up. If a doctor was unavailable, she would prescribe something to tide a person over until he or she could see one. Martha was one of the old time pharmacists. In her early years, prescriptions were not poured out of a bottle, they had to be compounded. She did that quite often almost to the end of her life.
Martha was a Kentucky Colonel appointed by A.B. “Happy” Chandler in 1935. She was a notary public and secretary to the Irvine-Ravenna Tennis Club in the 1930’s. Always interested in the community, Martha was a member of the Marcum-Wallace Hospital Auxiliary and the Irvine-Ravenna Woman’s Club. She was always ready with gifts or checks for any worthy cause. The City of Ravenna recognized her contributions through special resolutions upon her death.
Although she herself never married, Martha thought men should remember their wives on Valentine’s Day. She would get the boys, Charles Vanhuss and George “Smokey” Fortner, to telephone and remind them to get their candy and she would have it delivered for them. Once, a boy needed fifteen dollars to go to Boy Scout Camp and Martha had him gather branches that she used in window decorations. She said she wanted him to learn to pay his own way. At a time when there were few scholarships and no student loans, she gave jobs to students so they could go to school, Martha bought a television and had it installed for a lady who couldn’t afford one.
Always an optimist about life, her motto was “Take it one day at a time and give it the best that you have”. It worked for her. Martha had her share of life’s problems. She lost a kidney had an intestinal operation and numerous falls due to Osteoarthritis, but nothing ever dimmed her zest for life or her indomitable spirit. She was hostess of a welcoming store that drew many people who came not only to shop, but also to swap the news of the day and to just visit. Martha had the endearing ability to really listen to what other had to say. All kinds of people came to tell her of what had befallen them and to just get it off their chests. They knew their confessions and secrets would remain confidential and they just felt better after talking to her. She loved dogs and always kept full blooded Collies around her. She said that they calmed the spirit and helped to dispel the cares of the day.
Martha adopted the Ravenna Grade School. For years she gave a party for the graduating eighth grade class where she would give the Valedictorian award. She would buy tow to three hundred tickets to the school carnival that would never be used.
How many other such things she did is unknown because she wanted it the way.
(This remembrance was written by Verlon Prewitt, with assistance from Charlie Vanhuss.)
Martha was born in 1908 at Gravel Switch in Boyle County, Kentucky. Her parents, James and Betty May, came to Estill County in the early 1920’s where they kept camp cars for men working on the L&N Railroad in Ravenna. Martha graduated from Estill County High School and later attended business school in Lexington. She worked for several years as an L&N stenographer in the Ravenna Division Office. Later she worked for pharmacist ‘Doctor” Waldo Wylie as an apprentice pharmacist in his drug store in Ravenna. She was granted her pharmacist license in 1934. She purchased the Ravenna Drug Store from Wylie’s widow in 1945 and operated it until her death in 1991. When she died, she was the oldest female pharmacist in Kentucky.
Martha was open seven days a week and closed only on Christmas and Thanksgiving. If you wanted a prescription filled at midnight, Martha would oblige you. She never turned a customer away because of money. She would say, “If I didn’t fill it and they died, or something bad happened, I would never get over it.” After the store was closed, over thirty thousand dollars in unpaid tickets were torn up. Not only was Martha a pharmacist, she also served as a doctor of need. If a kid got banged up or cut up, she would patch them up. If a doctor was unavailable, she would prescribe something to tide a person over until he or she could see one. Martha was one of the old time pharmacists. In her early years, prescriptions were not poured out of a bottle, they had to be compounded. She did that quite often almost to the end of her life.
Martha was a Kentucky Colonel appointed by A.B. “Happy” Chandler in 1935. She was a notary public and secretary to the Irvine-Ravenna Tennis Club in the 1930’s. Always interested in the community, Martha was a member of the Marcum-Wallace Hospital Auxiliary and the Irvine-Ravenna Woman’s Club. She was always ready with gifts or checks for any worthy cause. The City of Ravenna recognized her contributions through special resolutions upon her death.
Although she herself never married, Martha thought men should remember their wives on Valentine’s Day. She would get the boys, Charles Vanhuss and George “Smokey” Fortner, to telephone and remind them to get their candy and she would have it delivered for them. Once, a boy needed fifteen dollars to go to Boy Scout Camp and Martha had him gather branches that she used in window decorations. She said she wanted him to learn to pay his own way. At a time when there were few scholarships and no student loans, she gave jobs to students so they could go to school, Martha bought a television and had it installed for a lady who couldn’t afford one.
Always an optimist about life, her motto was “Take it one day at a time and give it the best that you have”. It worked for her. Martha had her share of life’s problems. She lost a kidney had an intestinal operation and numerous falls due to Osteoarthritis, but nothing ever dimmed her zest for life or her indomitable spirit. She was hostess of a welcoming store that drew many people who came not only to shop, but also to swap the news of the day and to just visit. Martha had the endearing ability to really listen to what other had to say. All kinds of people came to tell her of what had befallen them and to just get it off their chests. They knew their confessions and secrets would remain confidential and they just felt better after talking to her. She loved dogs and always kept full blooded Collies around her. She said that they calmed the spirit and helped to dispel the cares of the day.
Martha adopted the Ravenna Grade School. For years she gave a party for the graduating eighth grade class where she would give the Valedictorian award. She would buy tow to three hundred tickets to the school carnival that would never be used.
How many other such things she did is unknown because she wanted it the way.
(This remembrance was written by Verlon Prewitt, with assistance from Charlie Vanhuss.)