Sue May Whiteside Williams is an impressive name.

For 44 years, I’ve wondered who she is … or was.

Why do I know the name, but not the person? Well, long ago she wrote it in a book.

It was a book we received as a wedding present. I read it aloud to my groom during our first month as husband and wife.

The book was a gift from my godmother, Georgeanna Lane, who wasn’t able to make it to our wedding. I’d frankly expected to see her name signed in the book, not Sue May’s.

All these years later, I picked up the book to read it again. Farmer Takes a Wife is an absolute delight. It’s full of stories about a Maine farmer’s first year of marriage to his Boston bride.

That signature, though.

Who was Sue May Whiteside Williams?

Well, I’ve been able to do some online sleuthing. And for this Connecticut girl who moved to Indiana, it’s an interesting tale.

That’s because Sue May was born in Indiana and lived her final days in Connecticut.

Sue May Whiteside was born in Jeffersonville, Indiana, on March 28, 1891. She died just one day short of her birthday in 1968 in New Britain, Connecticut.

Her father was the mayor of Jeffersonville, Indiana, while she was a young child. He was also the proprietor of Whiteside Bakery across the Ohio River in Louisville, Kentucky.

Sadly, Sue May’s father passed away less than a year after the impressive bakery building began production. She was only 18 years old.

I couldn’t find many specifics about the rest of Sue May’s life. She married Charles Wilson Williams in 1920. They had several children and moved to Illinois and then Connecticut.

Sue May passed away in 1968. Can we assume Farmer Takes A Wife was part of an estate sale? Or perhaps a donation to a library. My godmother was a librarian. Maybe she picked up the used book at a sale or charity shop.

All these years later, it’s nice to know Sue May had roots in the two states where I’ve spent most of my life.

I hope she enjoyed reading Farmer Takes A Wife even half as much as Farmer Gary and I did. I’m glad she signed her name in the front of the book. Maybe I’ll add ours, too.

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