Mary Ann "Maya" Adepoju

1952 - 2014

Mary Ann "Maya" Adepoju, 61, entered into eternal peace on Thursday, May 8, 2014, at the Swedish Hospital in Seattle. 
Maya was born Dec. 27, 1952, a daughter of the late Horton Lewis Boone and the late Willie Mae Walker Boone in Huntsville, Alabama. Maya was the fifth child of 10 children, three of whom preceded her in death. She graduated from S.R. Butler High School in 1970 and went on to obtain her Bachelor of Science degree in social work and business administration at Bethel College in McKenzie, Tennessee, and a Bachelor of Arts in journalism in 1982 at University of Alaska Fairbanks. Maya worked toward her graduate degree in counseling and social work at Atlanta University in Georgia.
She married her loving husband, Abdul-Kareem Layi Adepoju, on Sept. 20, 1976, and they were happily married for 37 years. Maya and her husband moved to Alaska in 1981 and together they raised four children.
Maya worked for more than 10 years at the Division of Juvenile Justice Fairbanks Youth Facility as a correctional officer where she counseled and touched the lives of various youths. She was influential in organizing the first Black Student Union at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. She was also the first African American to be licensed as a real estate agent in Fairbanks. Maya, together with her husband, opened the first African Arts and Crafts Boutique in Fairbanks and was also one of the first members of the International Friendship Day organization in Fairbanks.
Maya was a longterm Alaska resident who was involved in many civic and community activities. She was a gentle soul with a generous heart and was always quick to help others.
Maya is survived by her loving and devoted husband, Abdul-Kareem Layi Adepoju, of Fairbanks; her two sons, Al-Jabar Adebayo Adepoju, and wife, Shannon of Palmer; Abdul-Kareem Oluwafemi Adepoju, of Fairbanks; her two daughters, Khadijah Oluwatola Adepoju, of Fairbanks, and Olaide Wolfe and husband, Dwayne, of Anchorage; six sisters, Callie L. Ayers, Elizabeth Cole, Flora M. Davis, Doris F. Torain, of Huntsville, Alabama;  Cynthia G. Boone, of Rex, Georgia; Deloris LeSane, of Fairbanks; and a god sister, Michelle E. Anderson, of Rex, Georgia; four grandchildren; and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins and friends.
Memorial services will be at 2 p.m. Saturday, May 24, 2014, at Mount Pleasant Baptist Church at 3030 Peger Road, Fairbanks, Alaska 99701. Friends and relatives are invited to celebrate the life and remembrance of Maya. We thank God for the gift of her life and the blessing of the time we spent with her.
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