Source: http://www.broussards1889.com/services.asp?page=odetail&id=10324

Mildred Marie Taylor Mayes
February 13, 1921 - December 10, 2013

Mildred Mayes, long-time home maker and resident of Beaumont, died Tuesday, December 10, 2013, at the age of 92.

She leaves her husband, Ovay, in the only way they would ever be separated and leaves her children with the happiest of memories and the gifts of their better selves. Mildred takes with her a credo of a life well lived, a life of true values, and gladsome beliefs.

Mildred was a quiet and gentle nurturer in the purest sense of tending and was happiest when she was caring for husband, babies, home, and garden. Early years spent in the fields with her family taught her the power of cultivation--watch over what you have, watch over what you are given, nourish and sustain every good thing, and never skimp on laughter. If you happen upon something made better with the gift of yourself, give, and honor your effort for that is what you can do that no one else can. Work is life, do your job and most days will take care of themselves.

Born February 13, 1921, in a logging camp in the tall clean pines of Winn Parish, Louisiana, to Maude Gates and Elmer Taylor, Mildred often shared memories of her childhood. She remembered playing on the wood floor of their logging tent and how the water came under whenever it rained. She remembered when her father finally moved the family from the woods to the big city of Shreveport, and suddenly they had Saturday afternoon movies and music lessons. Her two sisters, her brother and she, with their mother playing the piano, became the Taylor Family Band performing on the radio each week. One day they came home from school to find their new furniture had gone back to the store, and their few possessions were loaded up in a borrowed truck, which was pointed back toward the Winn Parish hills. Overnight home became an empty, unused and borrowed farm building which was not habitable until the windy cracks in the walls were pasted over with newspaper. Neighbors loaned them a posthole digger, they dug a well,--they were home. Mildred always considered this move her great good luck for on the first day of school, after walking four miles through a deluge, she entered her class, soaked, and a skinny barefoot boy with hair parted in the middle, wearing outgrown overalls fastened high on his chest asked her, “Are you wet?” Those words began a journey that lasted her lifetime. Mildred and Ovay. Ovay and Mildred. Loved and beloved.

Mildred was always fascinated by babies. She loved to take care of them even before she had her own. As was the custom where she grew up, if a mother died, not uncommon in those woods and on those rural farms, neighbors and family members would take the young children to care for. Once when her mother took in such an infant, Mildred was given the job of caring for the baby. Since the whole family worked in the fields, she took the baby with her and laid it on a quilt at the end of whichever row she happened to be working. She had not known she could pick a row of cotton as fast as she did to get to the end of the row and have some time with that baby. She fed it, slept with it, changed it, and rocked it. After several months, the baby's relatives came to claim it. She was a long time getting past the notion that the baby was not hers. Later on as a young wartime mother on Forsythe Street in Beaumont, tragedy struck her neighbor's family and she was the one who cared for an orphaned infant for several months until arrangements were made for the family to step in. She never hesitated to be mother to the baby even though the color of its skin was not her own and some in that time and place told her such a thing just was not done. She was a child of the southern backwoods and every baby needed a mother.

Making a home for her family was her gift and purpose. Mildred never drove a car nor felt the need to. She always felt blessed to be wherever she was and thought that most situations were an opportunity to “bloom where you are planted”. She was a proud housekeeper, a wonderful cook, and an accomplished seamstress. She was creative and an artistic and passionate gardener. Mildred taught Sunday School at First Assembly of God Church where she was a longtime member. In her middle years she took her first job outside her home. A “paying” job, she called it and for eighteen years until her retirement she was essential, at first to the shipping department, then to membrane quality control at Helena Laboratories. Mildred was the core of the morale of both departments for her willingness to listen to any problem, company or personal, and the quiet support and encouragement that made her co-workers long time friends.

Survivors include her husband, Ovay Mayes; children, David, Ronny and his wife, Mandy and Ann and her husband, Tipton Golias; grandchildren, Amanda Wallace and her husband, Jason; Kathleen Stock and her husband, Brian; Waylon Mayes; Mark Golias and his wife, Julie; Joe Golias and his wife, Sue; Wendy Golias; and Karla Falgout and her husband, Paul; great-grandchildren; Ovay, Lee, and Buffin Golias and Brooke Terrill; Zack, Andrew, Jennie, Matthew, and Thomas Falgout, and B.J. Stock; and one great-great-grandchild, Emma Falgout; and numerous nieces and nephews.

She is preceded in death by her parents, Maude J. and Elmer L. Taylor; one son, James Andrew Mayes; her brother, James L. Taylor; her two sisters, Nina Roberta Underwood and Marjorie Earline Kelly; two daughters-in-law, Kay Mayes and Neva Mayes; and her great-granddaughter, Nicole Golias.

The family is forever grateful to Earth Angels, who lovingly cared for our precious one at home. We especially wish to thank Shannon James, Anita Harris, and Missy Mouton for their kind and tender attention not only to our dear one but to the rest of the family who daily surrounded her.

A gathering of Mrs. Mayes' family and friends will be from 5:00 p.m., until 7:00 p.m., Friday, December 13, 2013, at Broussard's, 1605 North Major Drive, Beaumont. Her funeral service will be 2:00 p.m., Saturday, December 14, 2013, at Broussard's, with interment to follow at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Beaumont.