Honorary Doctor of Divinity
Wartburg Theological Seminary

Master of Arts in Religion
University of Dubuque Theological Seminary

Bachelor of Arts
Grove City College
St. Mary’s College

Faculty Biography

May has had the privilege of serving as Instructor in Biblical Languages (Biblical Hebrew and New Testament Greek) at Wartburg Seminary for more than 30 years. The daughter of a Presbyterian pastor, May was born in New Jersey, grew up in Kansas, was awarded a National Presbyterian Scholarship to attend college in Pennsylvania, won a District Rotary Scholarship to do postgraduate studies in Scotland, and, upon marriage to Winston D. Persaud, lived in Guyana, South America, and taught in the Lutheran Church in Guyana. May began her teaching at Wartburg Seminary after Winston came to teach Systematic Theology at Wartburg in 1984. May and Winston are blessed with two sons, Winston Jr. and Alexander; two daughters (in-law!), Jamie and Ajin; and four dear grandchildren, Idris, Irene, Georgiana, and Timothy.

May’s passion for the Bible and for Bible instruction is no happenstance. Named for her maternal Grandmother May, who was named for the month her parents were married, and walking in the footsteps not only of her Grandmother May but also her mother Dorothy, both revered teachers of the Bible, May feels she has been blessed to bear a name that bespeaks her calling. In whatever setting she teaches, May brings a passion for Scripture and a desire to invite students to encounter and ponder the biblical text and its message for us today. As a teacher, this is at the center of her calling as a disciple and servant of the Lord Jesus Christ.