Earl Mayne: A Look at His Heritage

In 1994, The American College of Surgeons received $1,150,000 from the Earl Mayne Education Fund in New York, NY. Before the College received the fund, interest payments from the Mayne Education Fund had been used for medical scholarships supporting approximately 2,900 medical students over a 50 year period.

The Mayne Educational Fund fulfilled the dream of a boy who struggled to obtain his own education and resolved, if he could, to help other young people along the same path. Earl Mayne was so intent on education that he not only paid his own way through three years of college, but simultaneously paid the expenses of a hired man who took his place at home on the farm. Mayne's father had said, "I have supported you for 18 years, Earl. Now you owe it to the rest of the family to work for a few years to pay some of that back."

Mayne was eager to reach a second goal, to become a physician, and here, too, he overcame a major difficulty. After completing the engineering course at the University of Iowa, he worked six years as a civil engineer, building roads and bridges, until he had saved $4,000. This money enabled him to attend the Bellevue Hospital Medical College in New York City, where he completed his courses in the spring of 1893.

Born October 19, 1866, Earl Mayne was the youngest of eight children. His father, Thomas Maynean Ulster, an Englishman and his mother, Jane Beggs of Scottish descent came to America in 1845. Shortly after Earl's birth, the family moved to a 640-acre farm near Mason City, IA, where they broke the prairie sod and lived for the first year in a log house. Ultimately they moved into a larger home.

In the sturdy atmosphere engendered in a large family that lived on an efficiently run farm, the young Mayne learned the values of industry, self-reliance, and self-respect. During his formative high school years, he also had the good fortune to be influenced by a young principal of Mason City High School, Miss Carrie Lane. Later, she became the world-famous Carrie Chapman Catt, leader of the women's rights movement. It was largely she who inspired Earl to go to college.

Mayne won one of the two county scholarships for the University of Iowa. At college, he worked at various jobs to meet his own expenses and those of the hired man at home. He waited on tables, did chores, and, among outdoor jobs, cut cordwood for professors, setting himself a regular stint of three cords every Saturday at a dollar a cord.

At the university, he studied civil engineering, but found himself adding more and more elective classes relating to medicine. Ultimately he decided to become a physician and began observing surgical procedures. Like many other medical students before and since, the operations were too much for him, and at times he fainted. But he persisted until he overcame his weakness.

After graduating as a civil engineer and while working on the construction of a bridge across the Mississippi River at Cairo, IL, he met and fell in love with Maud Rittenhouse. They became engaged, and when Earl started his medical career, they married.

Ultimately, Dr. Mayne moved to Bath Beach, a suburb of Brooklyn, NY. As a young doctor, he first made his rounds on bicycle, then by horse and buggy, and before long he had a steam-driven Locomobile, acquired in 1902. The doctor's practice expanded, and so did his family, with the addition of three daughters. The family lived in Bath Beach for 26 years and then moved to the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn, where Dr. Mayne practiced until 1948. He died June 9, 1949.

Dr. Mayne was a pioneer and reformer in protective and preventive health measures, often fighting prejudice to open the door for modern medicine. He was one of the founders of the Bay Ridge Hospital and for many years was the president of its board of directors. He held the presidency of the Bay Ridge Medical Society and a Governorship in the American College of Surgeons.

Intent on helping worthy young people acquire educational advantages, Dr. Mayne founded the Mayne Educational Fund in 1944. That year, the stock that Dr. Mayne placed in the trust was valued at $64,461.

The editors of the FLS Quarterly would like to thank the Mayne Educational Fund for its help with this article.

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Fifty years ago, Earl H. Mayne, MD, FACS, established a trust naming the American College of Surgeons as a beneficiary. Dr. Mayne, who died in 1949, clearly felt that supporting the research and educational programs of the College was one of the best ways to foster further development of the surgical sciences.

As a result of Dr. Mayne's vision and confidence, the College received a $1.15 million disbursement in Summer 1994. To recognize Dr. Mayne and to encourage others to follow his example, the Mayne Heritage has been established. The designation Mayne Heritage is awarded to individuals who notify the College in writing that they have made a planned gift of at least $25,000.

Mayne Heritage designees are also accorded membership in the Fellows Leadership Society. All members are recognized in an annual Honor Roll published by the Society. In addition, all members are invited to the Society's annual recognition luncheon held during the Clinical Congress.

The current members of the Mayne Heritage are:

Dr. Kathryn D. Anderson - California
Dr. and Mrs. Neil C. Clements - Arizona
Dr. Benjamin L. Crue, Jr. - Colorado
Dr. and Mrs. Martin L. Dalton, Jr. - Georgia
Dr. and Mrs. David E. Grambort - Arkansas
Dr. Peter S. Hedberg - Oklahoma
Dr. John C. Iacuzzo - New Jersey
Dr. and Mrs. Paul H. Jordan, Jr. - Texas
The Estate of Dr. Harry E. Keig - Florida
Dr. and Mrs. Norman M. Kenyon - Florida
Dr. William W. Kridelbaugh - New Mexico
Dr. and Mrs. LaSalle D. Leffall, Jr. - District of Columbia
Dr. and Mrs. Joseph H. Lesser - California
Dr. and Mrs. Eric T. Lincke - Michigan
Dr. and Mrs. James V. Maloney, Jr. - California
Dr. and Mrs. Richard W. Martin - North Carolina
The Estate of Dr. Earl H. Mayne - New York
Dr. Mary L. McKenzie - Florida
Estate of Harold H. Metz - Pennsylvania
Dr. and Mrs. Henry A. Norum - California
Dr. and Mrs. Frank T. Padberg, Sr. - Illinois
Dr. Frederick W. Plugge, IV - Maryland
Dr. and Mrs. Stuart M. Poticha - South Carolina
Dr. and Mrs. Richard B. Reiling - North Carolina
Dr. and Mrs. Russell L. Ryan - Massachusetts
Dr. Hugh H. Trout, III - Maryland
Dr.* and Mrs. Irving W. Varley - Washington
Dr. and Mrs. Alexander J. Walt - Michigan
The Estate of W. Merle Warman - West Virginia
The Estate of Claude E. Welch - Massachusetts
Dr. and Mrs. David P. Winchester - Illinois
Dr.* and Mrs. Scott W. Woods - Michigan

* Deceased

For more information about the Mayne Heritage and estate planning, contact the ACS Development Office, 312-202-5362.

Revised February 9, 2006