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Mary Esma Williams, known as May, was born January 26, 1882. At age sixteen May graduated from Osawatomie High School with the distinction of valedictorian. In 1905 she graduated from the State University of Kansas in Lawrence, with a degree in mathematics.

May was married and moved to Lamar, Colorado. May won second prize in the Colorado Federation of Women's Clubs poetry contest for her poem entitled "Night in a Prairie Town." Urged by others to submit her poetry for publication, May sent three poems to Life magazine, one of which was accepted and printed in the February 17, 1921, issue ("Youth Wants Summer"). This marked the beginning of her literary career which spanned fifty years.

By 1925, May Williams Ward had gained national recognition as a poet. That year, her poems appeared in four distinguished anthologies and she was one of only thirty people representing the seven arts to be selected out of more than three hundred to attend the famous MacDowell Colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire. Among other MacDowell colonists during the summer of 1925 were Edwin Arlington Robinson, Sara Teasdale, Stephen Vincent Benet, and DuBose and Dorothy Heyward.

From 1926 to 1931, May edited The Harp, a national poetry magazine published in Larned, Kansas. William Allen White, Arthur Capper, Jouett Shouse, and other notables comprised a list of patrons who contributed funds to the magazine.

During her literary career, May had seven books published: Seesaw (1929), In Double Rhythm (1929), From Christmas-Time to April (1938), Approach to Social Studies Through Choral Speaking (1945), Wheatlands (1954), No Two Years Alike (1960), and In That Day (1969). She helped organize the Poetry Society of Kansas and served as its president 1932-1934. Other literary organizations to which she belonged included the Kansas Authors Club (President, 1940-1941), National League of American Pen Women (State President, 1958-1960), and the Poetry Society of America.

Kansas Magazine received May's assistance as poetry editor, consulting editor, and contributing editor. In 1946, she became a charter member of the Radio Council of Kansas Women, serving as script writer and chairperson of the literature section for a series of radio programs about women of Kansas which were broadcast over KFKU. In addition, she coached groups of writers in Wichita and was book review editor for the Wellington Daily News.