The late Dr. William E. Mayer worthy of being remembered
The late Dr. William E. Mayer worthy of being remembered
By Bonnie Bartel Latino
In 2011 when I read in Dispatches that death was February’s word-prompt for the William E. Mayer Award
for Literary or Artistic Excellence competition, I knew I had a story worth sharing. My narrative non-fiction entry, Christmas Whistles: A Swiss Duet, detailed the compounding effects of grief I suffered after my father died of cancer and his near-fiancé, my mother figure, was brutally killed the following day in a senseless car accident. I knew my story had the capacity to touch hearts if I could give it a literary bent and frame it for universal appeal.
What I knew very little about was the man for whom MWSA’s prestigious award is named, Dr. William E. Mayer. It is my hope that this article will inspire even more of our members to enter a contest that honors a truly outstanding individual and also encourages and recognizes creative excellence within our membership.
Christmas Whistles did indeed win for the month of February. However, after my story won the 2011 Gold Medal for the award, I became hungry for knowledge about W.E. Mayer. Our president, Joyce Faulkner, put me in touch with Mr. Mayer’s widow, Heidi, a Registered Nurse. Via email, Heidi and I experienced an immediate emotional connection. As Heidi said via email, “I don’t think it’s a coincidence that you and I crossed paths.” Those may not have been her exact words, but they portray the sentiment she expressed—before I could express the same. Bud’s death had come only one year (February 10, 2010), prior to Christmas Whistles winning MWSA’s monthly competition based on the word-prompt, death. Ultimately, Heidi graciously shared her late husband’s impressive obituary and photo.
From our correspondence, I knew there were two things I wanted to share with our MWSA membership. Before Bud’s death, he and Heidi co-authored an e-book, Waltzing with Death. It is available on Kindle for $2.99 on Amazon. It may be found at this link: http://tinyurl.com/6nrpnmq. A sensitive work of narrative non-fiction, Waltzing with Death is the Mayers' memoir of Bud’s final months and how they handled the challenging situation. The editorial review at Amazon further describes the book as, “. . . A love story, a survivor's tale, a travelogue of sorts describing great and growing faith as we confront many challenges, and in the end, a great trip. It is, as so often true, the trip, rather than the destination, that matters most.”
The other thing I wanted everyone to know is that MWSA’s annual award for literary or artistic excellence honors a truly fine human being who deserves never to be forgotten. Our award is named for him because Dr. Mayer encouraged writers, artists, musicians, and photographers to spontaneously tackle new short projects, a perfect fit for MWSA’s annual award that recognizes literary or artistic excellence in abbreviated format.
According to his obituary, the late William E. Mayer was born in Chicago, IL in 1923. The son of parents who were both dentists, he was educated at the University of Washington, Northwestern University Medical School, and the University of California Medical Center in San Francisco. Considered a Renaissance man with talents in many areas, he was a medical doctor trained in neurology, psychiatry, neuropathology, and military medicine. He was also a soldier who won the Bronze Star with Valor during the Korean War and a statesman and friend/associate of Ronald Reagan, Casper Weinberger and Colin Powell.
His obituary detailed a fascinating and lengthy life of service before self. However, I would be remiss not to include the following paragraph: “Dr. Mayer spent his entire professional life in public service, mostly in several military services but also as California Director of Mental Health and Director of Health, Director of the International Forum on AIDS Research at the National Academy of Sciences, and Health Director in several California Counties and in Hawaii. He served six years in the Pentagon as Assistant Secretary of Defense (Health Affairs), responsible for the health care of the nearly ten million active duty and retired military personnel and their families worldwide, and was Assistant Surgeon General of the United States.”
I am truly honored to be the 2011 recipient of the William E. Mayer Award for Literary or Artistic Excellence.
[Bonnie Bartel Latino's Vietnam era military romance, The Rush of Butterflies, won MWSA’S Gold Medal in the 2009 People’s Choice contest. A former columnist for “Stars and Stripes/Europe,” Bonnie lives in south Alabama with her husband, retired Air Force colonel, Tom Latino.]