James Harold Mayes (Sr.) was born April 3, 1917.

Three days after he was born, he was adopted by Iver Earl Mayes and Grace Elizabeth Wright Mayes.

The story behind the adoption that Dad told me was that Grace Mayes and her mother were going somewhere in Pittsburg, and Grandmother Wright got the heel of her button-up-the-side shoes caught between the railroad ties at a crossing. A train was coming down the tracks, and it proved impossible to stop the train, pull the heel of the shoe free, or unbutton the shoe and get Grandmother Wright's foot out of the shoe. Grace Mayes had to stand there and watch her mother get hit by the train. As Gramps told me, they 'picked up' Grandmother Wright 'with a shovel and a bucket.'

Grace Mayes was so upset that it was decided that having a baby to care for could only help her - hence the adoption.

Gramps Mayes wrote on the back of this picture - "I recall vaguely my parents telling me that Grandfather P(leasant). A. Mayes gave them this wicker baby buggy when I was adopted. J. H. Mayes 9-27-1995"