Mintie Lou May

Mintie Lou May was the first born of Thomas Greene May and Amanda Conley. She met her husband, Charles Newton Rice, when she took a penmanship class in a neighboring county (Magoffin County). She and Charles lived and farmed in Kentucky for a few years and then in 1903 moved to Wenatchee, Washington, where she lived the remainder of her days.

As the wife of a farmer, she worked hard to help provide the necessary things for her family. She would have had to develop cooking and sewing skills, as well as those things necessary to survive on a farm. As a mother she knew much of sorrow and heartache, as she had three young children die.

In 1927 Mintie, Charles, and a daughter were traveling home from Omak to Wenatchee, Washington when they ran into a viaduct near Entiat. Charles escaped injuries, the daughter was slightly injured, and Mintie injured her skull. Due to the skull injury, she contracted meningitis and died one week later. Her funeral services were held in the Baptist church in Wenatchee and she was buried in the Wenatchee City Cemetery, Chelan, Washington.