Copyright © 2004 NLThomas
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SALLISAW, OKLAHOMA - Cherokee Nation original enrollee, Mary Louvenia “Babe” Sanders Mayes, will celebrate her 100th birthday on November 16, 2004.

Mayes was born to Jessie Alice Adair and Moses Frye Sanders November 4, 1904, in the Adair Colony of Sequoyah district in the Cherokee Nation, now north of Sallisaw. She is an original enrollee citizen of the Cherokee Nation and a descendant of Nancy Ward. Her mother died a month after she was born, so she was raised by her maternal grandparents, Rachel Louvenia Twist and Edward Everett Adair.

Mary Mayes grandfather Edward Everett Adair served as clerk for the Sequoyah district, and later as councilor for the Cherokee Nation. He was also a successful farmer and cattleman. Her father, Moses Frye Sanders, graduated from the Cherokee Male Seminary, became a teacher, was elected to the Cherokee Nation Tribal Council in 1899 and 1901, and elected to serve as the first representative to the Oklahoma State legislature from Sequoyah County.

When her grandmother died following a long illness in 1943, Mayes went to Wichita, Kansas and worked in the aircraft industry while her children completed school

Mayes has always loved life, has a great sense of humor, worked hard, and has a strong sense of family. She lived alone at Claremore, Oklahoma until recently, when she moved to an assisted living facility in Olathe, Kansas to be near her son and granddaughters. She attended recent Cherokee Holiday celebrations where she rode in a carriage in the Holiday parade, attended the Cherokee Nation Original Enrollees meeting, and the Nancy Ward descendants meeting.

Mary Louvenia “Babe” Sanders Mayes son and daughter, John Ed Mayes and Doris Mayes Swart, grandchildren and great-grandchildren will host a birthday party for her at the Eastside Baptist Church in Sallisaw at 2 p.m. on Saturday, November 13. All family and friends are invited to attend. For more information call Mary Adair, phone: 918-775-5785.

Related Cherokee Nation contact information:

Mike Miller, Cherokee Nation Director of Communications Phone: 918-456-0671 (ext.2210) Fax: 918-458-5580 E-mail: Communications@cherokee.org Larry Daugherty, Advertising Manager Cherokee Nation - Public Affairs Phone 918-456-0671 (Ex.2324) E-mail: ldaugherty@cherokee.org

Steven Swogger, Agriculture Liaison Natural Resources Department Phone: 918-456-0671 (ext.2546) FAX: 918-458-7673 E-mail: sswogger@cherokee.org Bradley D. Peak, Cherokee Nation Natural Resources Specialist Phone: 918-456-0671 (ex.2843) E-mail: bpeak@cherokee.org