Maye Alice Massa

Sibley, Iowa Maye Massa, age 99 of Atlanta, GA, formerly of Sibley, IA passed away Saturday, August 29, 2015 at her home in Atlanta, GA. Memorial service will be 11:00 AM, Friday, September 18, 2015 at the First Presbyterian Church in Sibley, IA, with Reverend Terry Simm officiating. A private family burial will take place prior to the memorial service in the Holman Township Cemetery in Sibley. Visitation will be one hour prior to the service on Friday, September 18th at the First Presbyterian Church in Sibley. In lieu of flowers, family prefers memorials be sent to the First Presbyterian Church of Sibley. Maye Alice Massa was born on May 1, 1916 on a farm five miles west of Sibley, IA, the daughter of Robert and Elizabeth (Rahfaldt) Oldenburg. Maye grew up in Sibley and graduated from Sibley High School in 1933. After graduation she moved to New York, and worked at West Point Military Academy as an assistant registrar and programmer. During the first year she lived there she met and married Harry Denham. To this union two children were born, Elizabeth and Robert. In 1955 they moved to Colorado Springs, CO, where Maye worked as registrar and programmer for the Air Force Academy. She retired in 1972 and they moved to Red Bluff, CA. Maye's husband Harry died in 1988. While Maye lived in California she was a very active member and volunteer for many organizations such as the Gleaners Club which benefited the under privileged and poor. She served as president of NAARFE (National Association of Active Retired Federal Employees) and traveled to Tokyo Japan representing them. Maye also worked with an organization in Chico, CA that helped abused woman and children and they named a Safe House after her called the "Denham House". She also was a foster parent for two teenage girls for ten years. Maye was a fifty year member of the Eastern Star, serving as a Star Point Martha for many years. She was an active member of the First Presbyterian church in Sibley. From time to time Maye would come back to Sibley to visit and during one of these times she started seeing a former high school boyfriend of hers, John Massa. Maye later moved back to Sibley and married, John Massa on May 8, 1993. They enjoyed traveling and wintered in Florida. After John's death in 2010 Maye continued to live in Sibley until 2013 when her health was declining and needed extra care. She went to the nursing home in Sibley for a time and then later moved to Atlanta, GA and lived with her daughter. Maye is survived by two children, Elizabeth "Betty" Perkins of Atlanta, GA and Robert (Dottie) Denham of Woodstock, GA; six step-children: Linda (Max) Schnepf of Pleasant Hill, IA, Dan (Marcia) Massa of Sibley, IA, Beth (Chuck) Weaver of Arden Hills, MN, John J. (Naomi) Massa of Sioux Falls, SD, Lawrence (Paulette) Massa of Shoreview, MN, and Melanie (Lee) Seivert of Sibley, IA; three grandchildren; eight great-grandchildren; and one great-great-grandchild. She was preceded in death by her parents, husbands, Harry Denham and John Massa, and one sister, Helen Keller.