Patricia Maye-Wilson, 63; teacher shaped children’s spirits

To her own resume she added a high school diploma, earned during night classes while she worked, along with a bachelor’s and two master’s degrees as she learned the art of teaching.

For more than a quarter-century, Mrs. Maye-Wilson taught English, reading, and special education at Madison Park High School. Her belief in students could not be shaken.

“These kids aren’t bad, I hate that word, they’re great,’’ she told the Globe in 1993. “They’re stressed-out from life experiences. I feel real good when I can convince them to hang on.’’

Her energy was such that many could not imagine a time when she would not be coaxing students, helping with Boston’s annual “Black Nativity’’ Christmas pageant, or simply offering assistance to someone who needed a meal and a place to stay.

Mrs. Maye-Wilson died in Boston Medical Center Oct. 14 of a brain aneurysm. She was 63 and lived in Dorchester after residing for many years in the South End and Roxbury.

“She was a fun person, but she loved to spread the word of hard work and education and her spirituality,’’ said her oldest son, Willie Maye of Boston. “She was the first college graduate in our family. That was big for us.’’

Priscilla Banister of Brookline, a friend for 35 years, said Mrs. Maye-Wilson’s spirit, cultivated through a lifetime of overcoming obstacles, was like none other.

“She just never gave up, and she always looked ahead,’’ said Banister. “Rather than just throwing in the towel, she was always looking for positive solutions.’’

Along with Mrs. Maye-Wilson’s affection for reading and learning, her son said, “she loved the arts: music, dancing, and art itself. She got me involved and my brothers involved and wanted to instill certain things in us so we weren’t always doing the same thing, meaning there’s more out there than just basketball or something of that nature. She wanted us to be able to spread our wings.’’

Mrs. Maye-Wilson wanted no less for her students and demanded much of herself. Participating in a Huntington Theater project, she attended 16 intensive night classes throughout the year to hone her skills teaching drama to students.

“Theater teaches them about commitment, on and off the stage,’’ she told the Globe in 1993. “It teaches them how to deal with people and what goes on in different cultures.’’

Working Madison Park’s program for special needs students and overseeing the drama club, Mrs. Maye-Wilson invested herself in all parts of each student’s life, including that moment when it was time to let them go.

“These are kids with lots of struggles: teenage moms, gang members, juvenile delinquents,’’ she said. “It’s rough, but most of them are determined to make it, and they do. . . . We’re screaming in the audience when they get their diploma.’’

Her own education came in fits and starts. Patricia Ann Maye grew up in Farmville, N.C., a small town a dozen miles west of Greenville. Family members called her Ann, and many friends knew her as Pat.

She lived with foster parents for a while and was 15 when her first son was born. Reconnecting with her family, she decided to move north to build a better life.

“She’d always come home to visit and say, ‘Baby, one of these days, Momma’s going to bring you up to Boston with her,’ ’’ said her son, who lived with family in North Carolina at first after she relocated. “One time she said, ‘Baby, pack your bag, because you’re coming with me.’ ’’

In Boston, Mrs. Maye-Wilson had her second son, Dino Maye and later married Amani Wilson in 1979. Her third son, Amani Wilson, was born the next year. Her marriage ended in divorce, and all three sons live in Boston.

After finishing high school at night, she studied education, receiving a bachelor’s from Boston State College and two master’s degrees from Boston University.

“Being a teacher was something she always wanted to do,’’ said Willie Maye, a Boston area sportscaster know as Coach. “She was living the dream she had to become an educator. She was a lady with a mission, and she accomplished that mission.’’

He added that “sometimes I walk around, and folks pull me aside and say: ‘Your mother taught me this, and she taught me that. She taught me extra things she didn’t have to do.’ Before she went to work, she’d call students to make sure they got to school on time.’’

Sundays were devoted to church as Mrs. Maye-Wilson sang in choirs at People’s Baptist Church in Boston, augmenting that musical experience by first helping out with “Black Nativity,’’ then landing a role in the annual performance. Two of her sons spent time in the cast, as did her grandson, Tyler Maye.

“Oh, she had a lot of energy,’’ Banister said. “She was gifted in writing. She was gifted in singing. She was gifted in drama. She had so many interests.’’

Banister described Mrs. Maye-Wilson as being like a sister and said she was kind in ways that would surprise those who knew what she surmounted to be a mother, teacher, and performer.

“She had a glow, and she had an aura that drew people to her,’’ Banister said. “To me, she exuded love. She just loved everybody, and people were drawn to her because of that..’’

In addition to her three sons and grandson, Mrs. Maye-Wilson leaves five brothers, A.J. Battle of Edmonston, Md., Robert Battle of Landover, Md., Kenneth Lee Battle, of Woodbridge, Va., Donnie Wilson of Greenville, N.C., and Fred Battle of Raleigh, N.C.; and three sisters, Carolyn Jean Knight of Farmville, N.C., Lillie Barnes of Wilson, N.C., and Dorothy Williams of Elm City, N.C.

A memorial service will be held at 6 p.m. today at People’s Baptist Church. Burial will be in North Carolina.