Edward Mays UNSUNG HEROES

Farewell To Ed The Janitor

WRITTEN BY ETHAN DYRLI DESIGNED BY AMBER SWAISGOOD AND LILIANA MORA

You may have seen him walking through one of the floor lounges in Jordan Kline. If not there, maybe cheering on the Messiah Falcons from a conference room TV. Passing through the halls, he stops at tables of study-weary students and extends his orange bag full of candy. His name?

“Edward A. Mays the second. But most people know me here as Ed Mays,” Mays said.

Mays worked as a campus events supervisor here for four and a half years, before retiring in mid-January, but his candy bag ensured that he met a lot of people in that timespan. Mays started passing out candy a few years ago when he started to notice students “dragging” after studying in the same room all day.

“I would actually kick students out, cause I would tell them, all that studying, I come in at three and you’re still here at 11, you ain’t got it, you need to leave,” Mays said. “I was giving my workers candy, so I came up with the idea, just pass it around.”

“That’s how I became good friends with students, and then, just to break up the monotony of studying, I would talk to ‘em. Talk to ‘em about my life, I ask about theirs,” Mays said. “I just took interest in the students.”

One of those students is Rachel Notestine, a senior HDFS major who worked for Ed since her freshman year. Through her years of working with Ed, she’s seen how he’s been uplifted her peers.

“He just makes a difference, everytime he comes into a room with candy,” Notestine said.

Mays’ support of “his students” wasn’t held by the walls of Jordan Kline. According to Notestine, he made it a priority to get to all of his worker’s athletic events.

“He’s come to, I think, every single field hockey game I’ve had the past two years,” Notestine said. “It’s pretty awesome to have that support on the sideline.”

Another student, Amber High, a senior social work major who worked for Ed since sophomore year, always felt supported by Ed’s continued commitment to show up.

“He has always supported my basketball career as well, by either surprising me and showing up to a game or watching the livestream and texting me ‘Good game tonight!’ afterwards,” High said.

Mays’ choice to retire was not one that came easy for him. While he loves the time he’s spent at Messiah, his retirement timeline moved up when tragedy struck his family. In October of last year, Mays’ oldest son Eddie passed away.

“It’s taken a big toll on me and my family. So, I have stuff to do for my grandchildren, so I’ve decided to go ahead and retire,” Mays said.

Thus, Mays’ plans for retirement are focused on spending time with his family. Mays, his wife, and his dog are moving to Panama City, Panama later this year. There they plan to rest, spend time together, and travel.

Before he goes, he’s hoping to get out of the conference room and catch a few more of Messiah’s teams up close. If you didn’t see him before his last day, don’t worry, he’ll be back for graduation.

“It’s been fun, it’s been a great blessing for me, I hope I’ve blessed people’s lives, and that’s about it. Tell everyone thank you,” Mays said.