Former RVGA leader dies here

The Roanoke Valley golf community has lost one of its most faithful servants.

George Edward May, who served as chairman of the Roanoke Valley Golf Association for 30 years, died Wednesday night from an apparent heart attack at his Salem home.

May, 62, taught advanced math classes for 24 years at Salem High.

The Martinsville native also taught at Martinsville High (1967-76) and James River High (1977-83).

Rob Landis, May's close friend and frequent golfing partner, said Thursday that he knew something was awry when May didn't show for their Wednesday night fall ritual of dinner and then attending the Salem High Boosters Club meeting.

"Every Wednesday, we do dinner at 6 o'clock and the Salem Boosters at 7," Landis said. "George and I spent the last 14 years going to every Salem football game, home and away, then we always went together on Wednesdays to go watch the game all over again. George is always prompt, always early, so I knew something was wrong. I decided to go over to [his] house and found him. A neighbor said they saw him out walking his dog at 20 minutes of 6, and I was there at 10 after 6."

Those on the local golf scene will remember May as a jovial gentleman who gave up much of his free time to run the RVGA tournaments.

"Oh, George always had a story," Landis said. "Everyone in golf around here must have heard that story about him beating Dan Keffer back in the 1980s in the old Valley Amateur about 15 times. Until this day, he's smiling about the day he beat Dan Keffer."

The late Keffer was the 1981 runner-up in the State Amateur and one of the better golfers in Roanoke for decades.

A memorial service will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Salem. May was preceded in death by his wife, Linda, and daughter, Lauren. His surviving family includes his daughter, Mary Kathryn May.