Uncrowned Community Builders

Johnnie M. Mayo is the oldest of seven children. Her family increased by four when cousins were introduced following the loss of her maternal aunt. As a sixteen-year-old high school student, Johnnie began a continuing commitment to community service. She taught Sunday school and volunteered regularly at the campaign headquarters of various political aspirants.

She attended elementary school in Birmingham. After moving to Buffalo, she graduated with honors from Fosdick Masten High School. Her lifelong dream to be a teacher was achieved when she graduated from Buffalo State College in 1959 and began a thirty-seven year career in education.

After teaching in various elementary schools Mrs. Mayo became principal of the BUILD Academy in 1970. Her participation in the development of the Academy is one of her proudest accomplishments. Many members of her extended family attended and graduated from the school. Most are now college graduates or are college bound.

In 1985, Johnnie was one of four, and the only female, to be appointed by the Buffalo Board of Education to the position of Supervising Principal. In 1990, she became the first African American female to be promoted to the rank of Assistant Superintendent for elementary Education in the Buffalo Public Schools. She continues, in retirement, to mentor newly appointed administrators, in the public and private sector, throughout the Western New York area.

After retirement from the Buffalo Public School System, Johnnie taught a graduate course in Education at her alma mater, Buffalo State College. In 1983, Johnnie also served as a Project Consultant for the U.S. Department of Education. She offered technical assistance on alternative practices related to the overrepresentation of Black and minority students in classes for the Educable Mentally Retarded. This assistance was provided to school districts throughout the country.

Over the years, Mrs. Mayo has served on numerous organizational boards including Housing Opportunities Made Equal (H.O.M.E.); Board of A.D.D.S., a full-service chemical dependency treatment program, which provides emergency, residential, and outpatient rehabilitation services to men, women, and adolescents. Mrs. Mayo is a Board Member and mentor for girls in the Buffalo Prep program. On the Board of Education at Our Savior Lutheran Church, Johnnie is a member of the Scholarship committee and served as Chair of the church's 75th Anniversary celebration in 2001.

Johnnie has served as president of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Gamma Phi Omega chapter, chairperson of the scholarship Committee, Founders Day, and MLK, Jr. program. She presently serves as Protocol chair and is active on many chapter committees. She has been a delegate to national and international sorority conferences. She is a member of Buffalo Chapter of The Links, Incorporated where she has served as vice-president, recording secretary, and is presently the chair of the International Trends and Services committee.A Read Across America participant, Johnnie is actively engaged in reading with, and to, students in schools throughout the Buffalo area.

She is the recipient of numerous awards for community service including: The National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women's Club's Sojourner Truth Award; Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Gamma Phi Omega's Founders Day Award; National Conference for Community and Justice's Brotherhood/ Sisterhood Award; Dreamers Unlimited Triumph Award for Strength, Wisdom and Perseverance; YWCA Leader Nominee for volunteerism; Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Gamma Phi Omega's Ouida H. Clapp Distinguished Sisterhood Award; and the AKA/Gamma Phi Omega's Spirit of AKA Award.

Johnnie M. Mayo is married to John A. Mayo and is the mother of Michael and Gina Mayo Hawk and the grandmother of eight and the great-grandmother of three.