Payne served with Company L, 313th regiment of the
79th Infantry Division and Company K, 11th regiment of the
28th Infantry Division of the
United States Army from 1917 to 1924. He served during
World War I and received the
Purple Heart. He worked for the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad for 37 years. He retired in 1961. He was a switch operator at the Brunswick railyard. In 1961, he was appointed as a state delegate to fill the vacancy left by
Charles Mathias. He then served until 1967. ==Personal life==