Nathan Daniel May

Nathan Daniel May was born on a cold, chilly, windy afternoon on January 26th, 1988, at the San Carlos Hospital in San Carlos, Arizona, to Josette Delma and Nathaniel May. Nathan’s first language he knew was Apache, but he lost the Native tongue due to speaking English at school to his friends and cousins.

At the age of 5 years old, he attended Gilson Wash Head Start and graduated. He attended Rice Elementary School than promoted to San Carlos High School and graduated in the year of 2007. After high school, he would take some classes at Eastern Arizona College. One course of “heavy equipment classes” would allow him to practice with a backhoe, loader and other equipment.  He would also get a seasonal job doing forestry/firefighting. After a few years of experience, he applied for Geronimo Hot Shots, where we worked for them for 2-3 years.

Nathan also attended Taekwondo with Master Kim since the 6th grade. He worked his way up receiving a purple belt, until the 12th grade. He also went up against a police officer, and at one point, he had taken the officer down. That officer never challenged Nathan again. There was a time where Master Kim asked if he could take Nate in and raise him basically to become a Ninja where they practiced in the pine trees. He said he would take care of him as his own, but “Tangy” said NO!

Nate was a quiet kid but would always play with his cousins and had many friends who would enjoy being around his energy. He learned to wash clothes at the age of 10 years old, using a new and improved washing machine. His mother (Josette) would tell him how easy he had it. Back in the day, she would wash clothes outside with a washboard over hot boiling water.

Nathan’s hobbies include fishing in the mountains, hunting with his friends, and truly just being outdoors, brought him peace. He enjoyed horseback riding. His grandma, Alicia, gave him a horse named “Mikey”. Dino Dude was with Nate when he made his first kill of an Elk at about 100 yards away. His first kill of a deer was towards the Coolidge Dam, where he shot the deer in the leg. During that time, he was shown how to skin the deer and he learned a lot from his mother on how to soften the deer and elk skin.

Nate’s brother, Del, also enjoyed watching movies with him. They also spent time riding together on his 4-wheeler and enjoyed riding his horse Mikey. Nathan loved his Native cooking, such as Acorn Dumplings and Veggie Soup. He learned how to make jerky, Macaroni Soup, and he cooked quail on a coal. Nathan was taught how to make Tulapai with his mom and grandma Alicia. Nate planted mulberry trees and pecan trees for his mom around their home.

When his mental health improved, he started to plan out his dreams and future. He got to meet Geronimo’s descendent Carlos Hererra and traveled to Farmington, New Mexico to meet with his family and also enjoyed visiting Huntington Beach. Towards the end, he was recently got a Biopsy done and was diagnosed with a very rare kidney disease that was newly discovered with no cure or medicine. Towards the last days of his life, he was getting his life together with paying off his court fines and was determined to fix his responsibilities almost as if he was trying to pay his dues. He had a positive vision of a beautiful place, and he attended church and excepted Jesus Christ in his life.

A Wake will be held at 4:00 P.M. on August 25th, 2023, at the May residence in San Carlos, Arizona.

Funeral Services will be held at 2:00 P.M. on August 26th, 2023, at Burdette Hall in San Carlos, Arizona.

Interment will follow at the Elgo Dam Cemetery in San Carlos, Arizona.

Assisting the family; Lamont Mortuary of Globe located at 328 S. Hill St., Globe, AZ. (928) 425-5491