John Summers May of Millersville, Pennsylvania passed away on November 13, 2024, at the age of 86 due to complications from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. John was a loving husband, father and brother, accomplished attorney, community leader and devoted friend to many. He will be dearly missed.

Born December 7, 1937, in Lancaster, PA, John was the son of Frances Hartman May and Louis Skyles May. An energetic child, John spent much of his adolescence exploring his family farm on Old Philadelphia Pike and the woods and waters around Lancaster County. His passion for the outdoors carried into his adulthood, and his leisure time was most happily spent on the water with a fishing rod in his hand.

John graduated from Dartmouth College in 1959, after which he completed officer candidate school in Pensacola, FL and joined his squadron in the United States Navy. He served his country for four years as a pilot and navigator aboard Lockheed P2V Neptunes, flying primarily out of Norfolk Naval Air Station. He and his fellow crew members tracked Russian submarines in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico, including during the Cuban missile crisis.

After a five-year whirlwind courtship, John married Barbara Snavely in 1964. They raised three unique children and celebrated 60 years of marriage in August. In 2000, they built a home outside Millersville that served as a gathering place for multiple generations of their family and many friends.

After his honorable discharge from the Navy, John enrolled in Villanova Law School, and graduated with a Juris Doctor degree in 1966. Following his graduation, he was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar and spent a year working as a law clerk for the Hon. John L. Bowman, Orphans' Court Judge for the Lancaster County Court of Common Pleas. He joined his father in the practice of law at 49 North Duke Street in Lancaster and continued working as an attorney at that location with a variety of partners for 58 years. John served in various volunteer capacities on the board of the Lancaster Bar Association, including as president in 1999. He was a fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, and succeeded as a lawyer by combining his disarming kindness, intelligence and common sense to develop practical solutions to complex legal problems. He was joined at the firm by his son, John H. May, in 2004 and retired in August of 2024. He loved nothing more than spending time with his office family and his loyal clients. He hoped to live to see the firm celebrate 100 years of service to the Lancaster community in 2029, but the nomination of Matt Gaetz as Donald Trump's Attorney General was simply too much for his heart and his sense of justice to take.

John loved technology, and was proud that his law office was one of the earliest firms in Lancaster to incorporate computers into its work processes in the early 1980s. A self-taught programmer, he created multiple legal software applications using Lotus 123. He sold a program to the Lancaster County Office of Domestic Relations that quickly calculated child support payments using a formula prescribed by the Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure. The program dramatically increased the speed and accuracy of calculations that were previously performed by hand. Similarly, John wrote software which he branded "Circalc," which performed the laborious "circle" calculation required to complete the Federal Estate Tax Return, which he sold to trust and estate lawyers across the Commonwealth and the country.

A loyal and loving friend, John was proudly sober and was happiest when he was serving others, whether that was "in the rooms" or during his 12 years as a Manor Township Supervisor. By the end of his second term in office as a supervisor, like many local government officials, he often joked that he was unsure whether he was completing a term or a sentence. His proudest public service achievement was his collaboration with his fellow supervisors, Manor Township public works employees, various state and local officials, and representatives of Norfolk Southern Railroad which led to the development and completion of a 5.25 section of the Enola Low Grade Rail Trail running through Manor Township along the Susquehanna River. He was especially delighted when, in the summer of 2022, with the support of the state government and generous private donations, the Safe Harbor Trestle Bridge opened, connecting two portions of the trail to create a 29 mile continuous, uninterrupted stretch.

While his body was failing him in his final days, his mind remained razor sharp. The last months of John's life were spent on his back deck in the fellowship of his friends, enjoying the beauty of nature and his Koi pond, obsessing about the outcome of the 2024 presidential election, and cheering in vain for his beloved Phillies to return to the World Series.

John is survived by his wife Barbara; two sisters, Susan H. May (Robert) of Farmville, VA and Helen M. Page (John, deceased) of Wilmington, DE; three children, Sara B. May (Sara Jurek) of Seattle, WA , John H. May (Megan) of Lancaster, and Andrew H. May (Juliana Garzon) of Seattle, WA.; and five grandchildren: Suzanne Hartman May, John Summers May, II, Cecilia Garzon-May, Moses Julian Jurek May and Samson Summers Jurek May.

A celebration of John's life will be held on December 7, 2024, at Charles F. Snyder III Funeral Home & Crematory in Willow Street, located at 2421 Willow Street Pike. Visitors will be received beginning at 9:00 a.m. with a memorial service to follow beginning at 11:00 a.m. A link wil be posted below on the December 7, 2024 to view John's service on Live Stream. It will always remain available to view after the service.

In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation in his honor to the Lancaster Law Foundation, 28 E. Orange Street, Lancaster, PA 17602 Lancaster Law Foundation Club 521, Inc., 2400 Butter Road, Lancaster, PA, 17601; or any other charity with a mission you believe he would support.