IRONTON — Rolland R. Mayo smiled and waved his hat at people on the sidewalk from his seat on a horse-drawn buggy Saturday. The buggy rolled along behind two boys striking a marching beat on drums and people carrying a sign wishing him a happy 100th birthday.
Mayo turned 100 on Wednesday. He was born in 1909 in Kerr, Ohio.
A parade in his honor took place on Saturday at 10 a.m. The parade also featured members of Mayo’s family and church, a band, the Ironton Fire Department and vintage cars. It started on South 9th Street.
Both Lawrence County and Ironton declared it Rolland Mayo day.
Many members of the crowd were Mayo’s relatives, who had come to Ironton to celebrate with him from states including Maryland and California.
“I’ve met people I’ve never seen before,” said Anita Clark, 48, of San Diego, of the family turn out. Clark is Mayo’s granddaughter.
Mayo has 12 children living and two deceased. He has 40 grandchildren, 41 great grandchildren and 10 great great grandchildren, said Kay Cloud, Mayo’s granddaughter, of Ironton.
Clark said Mayo helped to raise her along with her mother and grandmother.
“I would have walked from California to be here,” she said.
Mayo taught her to always pursue her goals and to have no regrets, Clark said.
She said Mayo’s mind was still sharp and he often told stories about his past, working on the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad. He worked on the railroad for 49 years.
Mayo said a lot has changed since he went to work on the railroad at age 16.
“The biggest change that stands out in my mind, more than anything else, is how far my people have come since segregation,” he said.
Mayo said when he worked on the railroad a black man could only be hired as a laborer.
He said he wanted to thank his family as well as his church family at New Jerusalem Christian Center who helped to organize the festivities.
“They’ve showed me so much love,” Mayo said.
Cloud, who helped to organize the event, said she wasn’t surprised that family members came from across the United States to celebrate with her grandfather.
“He has that type of personality that he just leaves an impression,” she said.
Clark said she was impressed with how Ironton responded to her grandfather’s birthday. Such a reaction wouldn’t happen in a city like San Diego.
“It’s a pleasure to come home and see a community that will do something like this for a person,” she said.
Flora Henry, 48, of Ashland, said she came to the parade because she knows Mayo as a deacon of her church. She said she’d known him all her life.
“He’s been a faithful, true man of God,” she said.
A banquet in Mayo’s honor also took place at 7 p.m. at the Ohio University Southern Mains Rotunda.
KATIE BRANDENBURG can be reached at kbrandenburg@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2657.
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