Kenneth "Kenny" May

Kenneth “Kenny” Lewis May, age 66, of Troy, Alabama, passed away Saturday, September 17, 2016. A memorial service to celebrate his life will be Thursday, September 22, 2016, at 1:30 p.m. in the chapel of Green Hills Funeral Home with Rev. Jerry Wilkes officiating. Honorary pallbearers will be Ned Jones, Terry Hassett, Tim Watson, Bill Talley, Billy Shaw, and Brad Bennett. A gathering of friends and family will follow the service at the funeral home.

Kenny was preceded in death by his parents, Lewis Clyde and Mary C. Petty May; sister, Debbie May; brother, Jack May; granddaughter, Hadley May; and nephew, Jonathan “Hootie” Hancock. He is survived by his wife of 24 years, Kim May; children, Tommy (Amanda) May of Troy, Tony (Ryann) May of Banks, Burt (Megan) Sanderlin of Panama City, FL, Lane (Chad) Sanderlin of Troy, and Tyler (Elena) Sanderlin of New Orleans, LA; grandchildren, Will May, Jacob May, Cade May, Carter May, Peyton May, and Willa Sanderlin; siblings, Lenita (Donald) Hall, Charles “Spooky” (Linda) May, Zelda May, Jill (Art) Hancock, Billy (Jane) May; and numerous nieces, nephews, and cousins.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in his honor to the Hadley May Foundation for Childhood Cancer (5634 CoRd 6618 Banks, AL 36005) or the Pike County Salvation Army (PO Box 592 Troy, AL 36081). Friends and family can sign the guestbook online at www.greenhillsfuneralhome.net. The staff of Green Hills Funeral Home is honored to serve the May family.

Remembering Kenny May

Saturday evening, Kenny May was called home to God’s Kingdom, leaving a unfillable hole in the lives of family and friends. Kenny was a man of largeness. He talked large, dreamed large, and went about life with a largeness that sometimes left us befuddled. We will always remember Kenny in sincere fondness for the stories and jokes that were uniquely him. We will be forever thankful for the countless times he dropped everything to perform in the smallest amounts of kindness. His surviving children will always be thankful for the rules he laid down and will quietly laugh to themselves about the late night milk runs. His wife will remember the lovable bull in a china shop that somehow managed to fix more than he broke. Men and women scattered all across the country will remember a man who would drive hours and miles out of the way to say hey. That’s the Kenny we all loved and will miss deeply.

In career, Kenny was in agriculture commodities business for most of his life working for K.F. Seeds and later founding his own company, which he continued until his passing. He was the first person to ever create a legal Whiskey Brand in the State of Alabama, and Clyde May’s Conecuh Ridge which became the official State Spirit and was the only private distiller ever to grace the shelves of Augusta National. Kenny’s accomplishments also include a feature in the Wall Street Journal, and he was even part of a special envoy to the Nation of Cuba with the Alabama Department of Agriculture.

As a husband and parent, he was unconditional in his love and devotion to his family. He felt his wife, children, and grandchildren were his greatest accomplishment. We will all truly, truly miss this one of a kind, lovable grumpy.