William James Mayo

William (Bill) J. Mayo, also known as Pops or Grandpa, passed in peace on September 25, 2021. He was preceded in death by his loving wife, Eileen Mayo. He is survived by his daughters Michelle (Albert) Mayo and Terri (Alvin) Cornelius. He has a sister, Theresa Howes and brother, Louie Mayo, along with nieces and nephews. He had three (3) step-grandkids and five (5) great-grandkids plus friends whose kids called him Grandpa.

Pops was born in Cohoes, NY in 1932. After graduating from school, he was studying to be a Priest when he met Mom on a bus. He said she was the pretties thing he had ever seen. They married on July 31, 1954. They were married for 48 years when she passed away. When Dad was a little boy, he said he swam in the Hudson River. He always wanted a house with a pool. So he built one and only a handful of times went in it. But he was proud he had a pool. But us girls used it all the time with our friends.

After devoting 20 years to the Air Force, Pops retired in 1971, he said enough of the cold snowy weather in Maine, let's head south. So we moved to Orlando. He was hired on at the United States Postal Service where he spent the next 23 years before officially retiring for good.

Those who knew Pops would see him in the garage working on his woodwork. He would spend hours carving and making fish and other yard decorations. He carved fish for Florida Hospital (now known as Advent Health) Pediatrics to hang on the doors. Each room had a different fish. He would spend so much time in the garage carving wood that his nickname was 'Sawdust'. He would leave a trail from garage to every room in the house (usually the kitchen).

Pops loved to sing and would sing to anyone who would listen to him. He was in the church choir for many years. He would sing to his doctors and their staff, when picking up his medicine at CVS, he would sing to Erin. She would listen to him and then send home little notes on top of his medicine bottles.

Pops was the grumpy old man with big feet but he had a heart bigger than his body. Growing up he may have had that deep voice that our friends was afraid of but he would do anything for anyone.

Pops and Mom loved to entertain during the holidays. Pops played bartender and would make those fruity drinks with an umbrella. Our parents would decorate every room in the house. They loved Christmas time and spoiled us girls.

Pops loved to eat and would buy a loaf of French bread from Walmart and have it half gone by the time he would check out. He loved his sweets! I thought I was clever when hiding them and he would find them. Pops would buy candy and hide it in his filing cabinet. He told Erin at CVS that he would hide candy in his empty pill containers so we wouldn't find them. Well I never found them so he must have enjoyed it.

Pops, we know you are enjoying all the candy you want now.

A Funeral Mass will be held on Friday, October 1, 2021 at 10:30am at Saints Peter & Paul Catholic Church 5300 Old Howell Branch Road, Winter Park, FL. A Military Funeral Honors will be held at Florida National Cemetery, 6502 SW 102 nd Ave, Bushnell, FL 33513 following mass service. In lieu of flowers, please make any donations to Extended Family Services of Central Florida, PO Box 710 Geneva, FL 32732.