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.