07/30/2026
As we continue to celebrate 150 years of Celina, Old Celina Cemetery Association looks back at significant people and families that helped shape our community. Johnie May is well known as the caller for the weekly drawings on the square for many years. His big booming voice could be heard loud and clear by the large crowds who were there for this important event each Saturday. His son, Dr.Johnny May, Jr . still lives in Celina and submitted the following article to help us get to know the May family better. We hope you enjoy his reflection of memories about his very special parents, Johnie and Lena May.
MAY FAMILY BIO
Written by Dr. Johnny F. May Jr. (AKA - Jack May)
Johnie Fillmore May was born December 31,1909, in the Mustang Community, Denton County Texas.
Lena Mae Bowling was born October 10, 1909, in the Shiloh Community in Dallas County.
They are both buried in the family plot in the Old Celina Cemetery with their daughter, Deloris Yvonne May who was born June 9, 1939, and passed away due to an accident August 8, 1940.
Love at first sight!
Dad visited a Methodist church and saw Lena Mae Bowling singing in the church choir. He instantly made up his mind he would marry her. They were both 15 years of age at that time! Dad was tall and handsome with thick black hair and mom was a beautiful young lady.
On one occasion during their short engagement, dad was leaving mothers home driving down a narrow road. While turning his head to throw kisses at her, he ran off the road and drove his Model T ford straight into a tree! That was a kiss he never forgot but not regretted.
After a few months of dating, they were married December 22, 1926, in the home of their Methodist Pastor H. T. Johnson. Mother turned 16 October the 10th and dad would not turn 16 until the 31st of December.
Mother asked dad to promise he would never tell anyone that she was about two and a half months older than him! She thought some people might think it inappropriate that she was older than her husband! Do you think the most outgoing man in Celina kept his word? Believe it or not, none of us kids ever heard him hint anything regarding their age differences.
Moving from Little Elm to Celina in a wagon...
After the first three children were born, Billie Joe, Bobby Leroy and Helen Kathleen, and dad and mother packed up all their modest belongings in their wagon and moved approximately four miles east of Celina. Helen Kathleen was a young girl and had never been to a town before. She was so excited and never forgot that big event. Imagine the size of Celina in the 1930s!
The Mansion on the Hilltop!
We moved to what Bobby Leroy nicknamed, “The Mansion On the Hilltop.” You may draw your own conclusion. It was a 50-year-old two story house that was painted yellow when it was first built and never had another paint job. For the base it had Bois d’Arc tree stumps that were about two feet high holding the house up. It is one of the hardest woods in the world. It was a fun place for kids to crawl around.
Dad had purchased a 170-acre farm for $25 per acre. He used about 70 acres for farming and 100 acres for a cow pasture. He loved working with cattle. He was also an exceptional cotton picker. He could pick a whole bale of cotton in less than 3 days. He would straddle one row and reach over to a row on each side. He was about 6’1’’ and had very strong legs and pull an extra-long cotton sack.
This old house had lots of history. I was the only child born in the “Mansion on The Hilltop.” During my birth my dad was down at the barn with the cattle until the doctor was leaving after I was born. When dad came in the house he asked my mother, what is his name? He was not happy when she said Johnie Jr. He used his well-known saying, “John Brown the luck” I didn’t want a junior, I’ll just call him Jack! To be factual, he never referred to me as anything but Jack. It wasn’t until the first day of school going into the fourth-grade mother quizzed me and told me to announce to Miss Bryant the 4th grade teacher my full name. I did to the teacher’s shock. It’s where most of us grew up and eventually attended a country school called Alla Hubbard School. I attended all 12 years in that two-story building. The 1000 acres of land were later donated to the Celina High School district where multiple school facilities are being built.
Below is a picture of the infamous “Mansion On The Hilltop.”
Notice the beautiful back porch with cloth covering which most of the time had a screen. Note the boxes on the roof where mother would grow some plants. Coming out of the back screen door was Uncle Tom Bowling and my Cousin Beverly Bowling. You may also see our ten-gallon milk cans where we put the milk from our cows.
We are riding a Jenny a small female donkey. We could tie her ears in a small knot. Riding the Jenny from back to the front was: Connie Bowling, Eloise Elaine May, Gary Bowling, Jack (Jr.) May (I’m the tall one, with a T Shirt that has the words, Alla Hubbard on it and partial picture of the Alla Black Cat mascot and Dodd Bowling in front of me.
Education was unusually important to our and Mom and Dad.
Dad surprisingly supported higher education.
Why is that surprising? Perhaps you should know that his school learning was the fact he only completed the 6th grade! He was always tall for his age thus he decided to skip the 7th grade and began to attend the 8th grade. After attending only two or three weeks his algebra teacher asked him if he had attended the seventh grade. He answered no. This was what she had suspected since he did not have any basic knowledge of algebra. Dad admitted algebra was very frustrating trying to find “where the unknown X was to be.” Therefore, he went back to working on the farm until he could do what he loved the most, being a cow trader!
Remember he only completed the 6th grade. I have heard him offer to buy several cattle from a farmer. The farmer would say okay let me add up the amount on my calculator. In a few seconds my dad would say that will be $10,500. (that is a symbolic number) The farmer would then complete his adding and say, Johnie you are right, how did you do that? Dad had an unusual ability to add or subtract numbers in his head. Another example is he would write checks all month and not write them into his check book until the last day of the month! On one occasion he became very upset, because he omitted and forgot to add in one $10 check. He always wrote with a bullet pencil until the bank said you must use a pen.
Dad encouraged my younger brother Otis Wesley and I and our sister Eloise Elaine to go to college. But before finishing Celina High School Eloise fell in love and married the love of her life Tommy Talley. She later attended and graduated from Frisco High School. She then went to college and received her B.A. degree. I went on to receive a B.A., a master’s degree and a PhD. and Otis Wesley earned a Bachelor’s Degree. Dad started Otis Wesley and I one year early in the first grade which was not legal so that we could get a head start. He meant well but it threw us back younger than others in sports in our grade. There was no such thing as kindergarten in our area.
Our mother had unusual educational experiences...
First, she graduated from the 11th grade which was the highest available at her school. Second, she later went back to school and graduated from the 12th grade! How many people do you know that have graduated twice from high school? Her special unfulfilled desire was to be a nurse. She never had that opportunity to go back to school, but our mother always loved reaching out to help others. She also loved teaching a lady’s Sunday School class at the Bethel Baptist Church.
Mom believed everyone should attend church
We give our mother the primary credit for encouraging us to attend church. Attending the First Methodist Church of Celina became a regular habit. They had a wonderful preacher and good Sunday school teachers including my older sister Helen Kathleen. She was my favorite. But there was a problem. It was our dad. Our dad would often be running late, and the ushers would have to take us all the way down to the first or second row. This would embarrass our mother having to help herd 4 kids to the front. Plus, our clothes were not as nice as most.
One day Mother was driving on a dirt road about two miles east of our house and spotted a small white framed building which was the Bethel Baptist Church. We visited there one Sunday, and Mother especially liked it because they were country folks like us.
Mother strongly believed in attending every time the church doors were open. That included Sunday morning and evening and Wednesday night prayer meeting. Plus, any time, we had a one-week Revival evangelistic services which were usually held outside. This was under a brush arbor covering made of persimmon tree branches. The trees were in ample supply on the east side of the church property.
Dad didn’t attend at Bethel but very little or any place for a while. He used the excuse he was too busy and needed to go into Celina on Sundays and talk with the farmers and buy them coffee and try to sell a cow or horse or whatever he had. He used that excuse many times to Pastor John Taylor Bledsoe at Bethel. On one occasion dad used that excuse again to Brother Bledsoe. Brother Bledsoe looked dad in the eye and said, “Johnny if you are too busy to worship the Lord one day a week, you are too busy.” Brother Bledsoe left him standing and thinking. That shocked dad so much that he began to attend every service and eventually became a deacon!
Our mother committed the “unpardonable sin.”
Our mother committed the “unpardonable sin” of leading us to leave the Methodist church in town and attending the Bethel Baptist Church. Yes, our grandmother May was a godly “died-in-the-wool” Methodist. She later admitted she felt the Decatur Baptist College where I attended my first two years, confused me to become a Baptist preacher instead of a Methodist preacher like she had planned. She eventually forgave me. We loved our grandma May.
Pastor John Taylor Bledsoe and Sunday after church dinners at our home...
Yes, dad and Brother Bledsoe became good friends and loved to tease or joke with each other. Dad loved hearing him preach. After each service he would say, “Preacher that was a good sermon, but if you will keep practicing you will become a good preacher.”
One of the other humorous experiences was when we invited Brother Bledsoe and his family to Sunday dinner after church at our home in Celina. Mother would always cook large helpings of everything, especially fried chicken. I’ll never forget one special meal. Brother Bledsoe took out a large plate of food. After he finished and started to sit back and wait until we would be served dessert which was usually a large cake. Before Brother Bledsoe could stop him, my dad picked up his plate and began to fill it with food. Brother Bledsoe objected and said, “Johnny I’m full and don’t need any more.” My dad just laughed and quietly said, “preacher you don’t want to hurt my wife’s feelings and think you don’t like her cooking, do you? Just eat and clean up your plate.” He did but I felt bad for him. Brother Bledsoe was a good sport.
P.S. He was an exceptional pastor and was very patient with me as I began to preach my first sermons at age 16.
Johnny May an Honest Cow Trader!
The Celina Record weekly newspaper had the following headline, “Stentorian-voiced JOHNNY MAY, known as an honest cow-trader.”
It also featured him in a suit and tie wearing his white Stetson hat. The only time he usually wore a suit and tie and the Stetson hat was to go to church on Sundays or a funeral.
I’m sure dad wore his suit on more than special occasions because of our mother’s insistence. She believed that going to church and wearing the best clothes you had showed respect for the Lord and the church.
An Example of Dad’s integrity...
I have seen dad go to a farmer’s house and select several cattle and agree to pay a set price for all of them. He said, “I’ll need to leave them here a few days and then come back and pick them up.” A few days later he came back and one of the cows had died. Dad assumed he would not need to pay for the dead cow. Wrong. Dad was asked to pay for all of them including the dead one. The farmer said, “you gave your word that all those cattle belonged to you.” Similar situations happened more than once. Dad would smile and write out a check for the full amount and shake hands and leave missing one cow.
The headline above may seem like an unusual headline, but cow traders were not always known for their honesty. There were other cow traders that we liked but some did not have dad’s reputation.
As a teenager getting ready to graduate from high school, I felt I had to ask dad why he without hesitation paid for a dead cow? He stated he had two reasons. First, “your word is your bond.” Once you shake hands that’s the deal, you must keep your word. Second, by keeping your word with a smile, the next time that farmer or rancher needed to sell some more cattle or by some more, who will they call? You must have an honest reputation. Plus, there were other young cow traders that would love to step in and take your place.
Dad never tried to impress anyone with his dress style. He was known for wearing khaki pants and shirt and an old cowboy hat. A short sleeve in the summer and long sleeves in the winter. For someone that chased a lot of cattle on a horse and was a cattle person, he never wore cowboy boots. He said he needed to wear high topped brogan shoes so that he could run and walk better.
For an example we would be together to catch a bull in an open cow pasture. Sometimes he would say Jack do you see that bull in that small herd of cows? Well, I’m going to walk some distance down the pasture and I want you to start running them down the pasture between me and the fence. I’ll have my rope ready. Dad not only had strong legs but very muscular arms. The cattle began to run full speed down the fence line. Dad had an unusually long rope. As the bull got close to him, I saw him form an unusually large loop on the rope and begin to swing it. Just as the large bull running full speed got even with him, he threw it with perfect accuracy and began to run full speed behind the bull holding on to the knot at the end of the rope. I was amazed to watch him gradually begin to not only catch up to the bull but as he got even, he planted his heels in the ground and literally whirled the bull around. We then got the pickup and trailer and loaded him in the trailer. That was not the only time I saw our dad rope an animal out in the middle of a pasture.
Dad and the Saturday drawings on the Celina square...
The Saturday afternoon drawings on the square drew large crowds from as far away as North Dallas! What were the drawings? For several years, the merchants donated money for a special afternoon drawing from a wire basket. People wrote their names on the back of what looked like a theater ticket and placed them in the large basket. That basket is now in the Celina Museum. Dad would get up on the back of a flatbed truck or pickup and begin to yell with his booming voice, “gather around everyone it is time for the drawing!” People came running to get as close as possible. He would then select a young child to pull one ticket from the basket. If a person was present, they could win from $10 up to $100. In the later 1940s and early 1950s that was a lot of money! If no one won that Saturday, the amount would increase $10 the next week until someone won. The largest amount ever won was $100. A young girl named Carol June Vest (Martin) won! She will now tell her story in her own words what it meant to win that much money.
Carol said, “When I was in first grade, I was playing in the front yard of our home with my brothers and sisters one Saturday at the corner of Third and Walnut just off the Celina Square. Johnie May called my name to win the drawing, so a young friend of my brothers came running over to our house and grabbed me up and took off running back to the square just in time to win $100! My mother took me shopping at Kissner’s Department Store where I bought a new dress for the first day of school. We then went to Mr. Brays Furniture store, and I bought us a new couch, and he threw in 2 new lamps! We even had enough left over to buy groceries at Perry and Ruckers Grocery Store. I will always treasure this wonderful memory."
Lena Mae cooked large meals and never worked “outside the home!”
In the earlier years, Lena Mae would get up early and begin cooking a large meal on a coal oil stove. She cooked for 6 kids plus she and my dad.
Breakfast was usually our largest meal considering we had already milked around 30 cows and slopped the hogs.
Dad, Billie Joe, Bobby Leroy and Helen Kathleen took care of the chores. After that we came in and had a large breakfast. It consisted of large pans of large biscuits and bowl of gravy. It was common to have slab bacon or sausage and usually eggs from our chickens. Plus, to top our meal each of us and especially dad would eat at least 3 or 4 buttered biscuits with apricot preserves. On some occasions we primarily ate buttered biscuits lined up around the inside of our plates with jelly in the middle. On at least one occasion dad was really hungry after completing our early morning chores. He lined up 17 buttered biscuits around the inside of his plate and filled the middle with apricot preserves and ate all of it! We were then ready to put in a long day of work on the farm or go to school. Helen Kathleen talked about the biscuits to a teacher that morning and she accused her of lying. Helen never got over that accusation by the teacher.
Dad would eat most anything, but when it came to dinner/supper he required the same thing for many years. Cornbread was usually essential. But he always needed to have mashed potatoes, red/pinto beans, a whole onion and a whole tomato. On one occasion after we moved to town Helen Kathleen wanted to fix dad a special meal. She cooked most of the afternoon. It was great looking, but dad refused to eat it until she fixed some of his traditional food. That was not a pleasant evening.
What was mother’s usual routine during the summer?
What did Lena Mae do after cooking and washing the dishes by hand? Remember, we did not have running water. I’ve already mentioned she never “worked outside” the farm. All she did was go and work in the field and help harvest crops until 11 a.m. She would then go back to the house and cook a meal for all of us. After washing the dishes, she would go back outside to work in the field until about one hour before mealtime and go back to the house and cook another large meal for about four or five of us, and sometimes 2 or 3 farm hands during the summer. But it could be said that many women like our mother “never worked outside their home!”
We eventually graduated from using flat irons that were heated on a stove to iron our clothes to white gas irons under pressure. The beautiful white and turquoise iron had a small round tank and a pump to build up pressure to heat the iron. Mother wanted our clothes to look as nice as possible. She would put starch in my blue jeans and then place a special wire type thing in the legs that would cause the jeans to have a crease on each side.
Dad loved watching High School football!
He especially loved watching Coach G. A. Moore win game after game with the Celina Bobcats. Sometimes the Bobcats would be playing in a city across the state in a playoff. Dad tried to attend those also. He not only attempted to attend every game but even some of the practices. He and Coach Moore became close friends. On one occasion after our dad was living in the Celina Convalescent home, he was shocked when the Celina football team walked into his room and gave him an autographed football. They had just won a championship. On another occasion during a Celina parade around the square, Coach Moore drove a convertible with dad in the car. They made dad the Grand Marshall.
Later after Coach Moore retired, he was asked to become the pastor of the dying Mustang Baptist Church. He then became Coach G. A. Moore, Pastor. The church was blessed with unusual growth for a country Church. I was given the privilege to supply preach several times at that wonderful fellowship.
What our dad taught us about racial discrimination without saying a word!
That’s a true statement since I never heard him say anything negative about how colored/blacks were to be treated nor any other race. He simply assumed works/deeds spoke louder than words no matter who they were.
Mr. Riley was an impressive black cowboy and cow trader that lived in the lower part of east Celina. Why did he use his first name instead of his last name? During that period of history, they did not use their last name when talking to a friend. They referred to my dad as Mr. Johnny in respect and friendship. He was loved and respected by my dad. He and my dad traded and hauled cattle together. As a young kid I helped load cattle with them. In the latter 1940’s until around 1950 occasionally on Saturdays on the Celina square they would sell or trade horses. Mr. Riley was not permitted to sell his horses on the Celina square because he was black! My dad saw that as discriminating and treating poor people differently than other people. Therefore, he volunteered to load Mr. Riley’s horse or horses into our pickup truck and take them to the square and sell them as his own. Mr. Riley of course did not go with him. Dad would sell his horses and then give him all the money at no charge.
The tricky part of this true story is there may be some that may try to make the next statement racist and try to cover up historical facts. Mr. Riley Wyatt always introduced himself as “N....” Riley not Mr. Riley. I have confirmed with others my age the accuracy of this statement. None of us ever understood why he used that term. Perhaps he seemed to accept the racial attitudes of that era. All old timers my age knew this and highly respected him.
Our dad never thought of anyone lower or higher than anyone else and that included the rich, poor, educated or uneducated. This attitude has affected me all my life as a Baptist Minister. I served about 50 years as a Pastor in California. In some churches, we had some southerners that highly resisted my leadership as I invited all races to our services.
That is how I eventually realized that actions could speak louder than words! I am so grateful for a Christian dad who set a great example. Yes, there are times that actions do speak louder than words.
Evangelist Cowboy Preacher, B.B. Crimm was one of the most colorful Texas Baptist preachers to ever stand behind a pulpit. He would on occasion mount a pulpit the way a cowboy mounts a horse from behind! In reference to some people or races assuming they were better than other people, former Evangelist Cowboy Preacher B.B. Crimm gave this down-to-earth evaluation, “Why does one dirt clod think it is better than another dirt clod?”
That is a very simple theology, but in my opinion, if believed and accepted, it would solve at least 99% of the world’s racial tensions! Remember, according to the Holy Scriptures, “Man was created from the dust of the earth. This should be a humbling thought for all of us.”
The May family counted it a privilege to grow up in the Celina area. We grew up learning to work hard and play hard. Learning that we had wonderful neighbors and family gatherings that are not ever forgotten. We had churches where the gospel was preached and people loved the Lord and their Country.
