And Sarah Laughed is the autobiography of the author, Jannie West Mays. It is her hope that her story of the struggles in her life and the triumphant end of her story will encourage and inspire others to hold on when it seems that there is no hope. In her story, Jannie shares the feelings of despair, loneliness and the hopelessness of being left alone to face life as a single mother. She relates her life that of Sarah in the Bible, who wanted desperately for a child and when she was well past the childbearing age.
Jannie West-Mays' love of learning, and concern about bettering the lives of the people she has known, motivated her to pursue a career in education and to simultaneously become ordained as a Baptist Minister. She is a distinguished administrator as well as a revered minister.
Jannie West-Mays is a graduate of Molloy College 1978 with a B.A. in Sociology and Long Island University-C.W. Post Campus 1985 with a M.S. In Special Education and obtained New York state certification in Educational Administration in 1995. She taught Social Studies in the Roosevelt Junior Senior High school for 15 years. Jannie was the Director of the Adult Education Program from 1995 until 1999. She became an Assistant Principal in 1999.Rev. Mays held the position as the Director of the Roosevelt Pre-Kindergarten Center from July 2004 until August 2009. In August 2009, she was reassigned as Assistant Principal of the Roosevelt Middle School.