Willie Mae Lamb

Willie Mae Lamb (nee Whatley), age 91 of Wayne, died peacefully at home on Thursday, Nov. 19, 2020. She had lived in Queens, NY before moving to Wayne in 2018.

Willie Mae was born in Columbus, Georgia, one of seven children in her family. She grew up very poor in the deep South and strived for a better life. After graduating high school in the late 1940’s, she headed north to Brooklyn, New York and joined her older sister in the big city. On the day she arrived in New York, she met Henry Lamb while moving into her sister’s apartment.  The two of them began dating and quickly fell in love.  They married on February 11, 1950 and settled in with family in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. They eventually moved and purchased a home in Hollis, Queens, raising their three girls. They enjoyed a very loving marriage of thirty-five years with summer vacations to the Poconos and lots of travel. Willie Mae also enjoyed more than a few trips to Atlantic City with her girlfriends. Living in New York, they were also fortunate to see several live concerts, including Whitney Houston, Diana Ross, Johnny Mathis, Anita Baker, Kenny G, Tracy Chapman, and many more. Sadly, Henry passed in 1985 while they were vacationing in Hawaii. This was a tragic loss for Willie Mae, but with the love and support of her family, she endured.

Willie Mae was at her happiest when her family was gathered around.  She always hosted Thanksgiving at her home and she was an excellent cook.  If you were lucky enough to eat her lasagna, banana pudding, or sweet potato pie, you’d never forget it! Willie Mae’s favorite ‘meal’ was, of course, dessert! She couldn’t pass up a slice of cake or anything sweet.

Willie Mae’s favorite hobby was kids!  She adored children and, while raising her own kids in Queens, she became a sort of ‘neighborhood mom’ to lots of other kids, watching after many of them. Throughout her life, she had a very loving and nurturing disposition. Her grandsons are among the lucky recipients of her love, and they have enjoyed a very close relationship with her. She traveled to New Jersey practically every week to help her daughter Sophiea take care of the boys for over seventeen years.  She became a permanent resident of Wayne upon selling her home in Queens.  Since living with her grandsons and granddog Benny, their bond grew even stronger. They will always love her and miss her dearly.

Willie Mae is survived by two daughters; Denise Martin and her husband Clarence of Jacksonville, FL, and Sophiea Lamb-de Lagarde and her husband Adrian of Wayne, two grandsons; Christopher Henry de Lagarde and Maxwell Xavier de Lagarde of Wayne, three sisters; Mattie Lee Bradley, Mary Alice Clark, and Carrie Zellner, all of Michigan.  Willie Mae was predeceased by her daughter, Rosemarie Lamb in 2012.