Joseph "Joe" G. Mays

He was born the second son of 3 children to Elizabeth and Franklin Mays (both deceased) on June 26, 1958 in Antigo WI. Franklin was in the Air Force so the family moved around but Joe’s formative years were here in Phoenix AZ, mainly in the Maryvale area of town. In 1975, at the young age of 17 Joe joined the Marine Corp. He was assigned to the 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion 3rd Marine Division. He served 4 years, obtaining the grade of E-5 in such a short time which was quite an accomplishment he was very proud of. In addition to his rank Joe had obtained 2 awards for Rifle Expert, Scuba School, Meritorious Mast and good conduct medals, along with looking amazing in uniform, he was asked by his commander in 1979 to be the new face of the Marine Corp for all of their advertisements. In spite of these accomplishments and the amazing offer, he ended up exiting the Marine Corp in 1979 and always felt that if he could go back, he would have made a different decision. He truly did love the Marine Corp.

Joe went through a few different jobs when he got out of the Marine Corp but ended up at Valley National Bank as a furniture and equipment mover. While working at Valley his mother Elizabeth was good friends with Janice Hamilton (deceased) and these two ladies thought it would be a great idea to introduce their “kids” to each other. Janice’s daughter Teresa (Terri) did not want to meet this friend’s son and did everything she could not to meet this guy. On Christmas Eve 1983 the two mothers figured out a way for Joe and Terri to finally meet. When Joe walked through the door Terri fell hard for this handsome, well spoken, sweet man. On April 24th 1984 Joe proposed to Terri and on November 24th 1984 they were married. They had two wonderful children during their marriage. Even during the tough times, they were always very happily married and very much in love.

Joe continued with Valley Bank and completed his Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management through the University of Phoenix. He was a supervisor with Valley Bank as well as Bank One after the merger. He left Bank One to become a computer programmer which he really enjoyed. Through the years Joe continued to increase his knowledge in computer programming and was quite delighted to interview and get the position with America West Airline in 2009. His time with America West and American (after the merger) was some of the best times of his career. He truly loved the teams he worked with and the job he was doing at the time. Some of Joe’s colleagues have said of Joe “he was the nicest guy;” “always willing to lend a hand, amazing team player;” “No matter what was going on in your world, you always felt more cheerful after chatting with Joe;” “Joe had such a generosity, wit and humor about him;” “Joe always showed a kind word and a helpful spirit”.

Joe also had a great love of modeling which he got back into in 2017 and enjoyed his time modeling with all the guys at Andy’s Hobby Headquarters. He was a history buff and enjoyed making planes and tanks from WWII.

Joe’s personality was larger than life, he had a laugh that was infectious to anyone around. He could make a new friend anywhere! Standing in line at Costco or just going through the isles he would strike up conversations with anyone and they instantly felt comfortable with him.

My husband will be dearly missed by me his wife (Terri), his daughter and son-in-law (Kaili and Jonathon Pfantz) their two children (Liam and Ryleigh), his son and daughter-in-law (Kyle and April Mays) and their daughter (Violet), and his brother and sister-in-law (Douglas Mays and Ariel McCabe).