The Coolidge examiner., 1931-02-27

S21A Ana<aSA EsS&S2 Grating surgeon.
The boy was
William ]. Mayo, later to become
world famous as a surgeon.
Matters of medicine and surgery
were familiar to the youngster
even at the age of thirteen. His
father was DR.. William II. Mayo
one of the best surgeons in the
West. His ancestors had been
prominent in the profession for
generations in England, from which
his father came to this country in
1S45.
Young Mayo had been brought up
in the world of curing the ills of
mankind. 1t wasn't unnatural that
he was able, under the circum-
stances, to serve as an assistant
at an operation when he was only
thirteen. His first patient recOv-
cred. Since then he has cured
thousands by the skill of his sur
gerry.
The youngster had early ambi-
tions to be stagecoach driver. He
was born in lie Seur, Mimi. In
1861, but his father moved to
Rochester, in the same state, when
William was two years old. Min
nesOta was in the Wild West of
those days. There were few high
ways running across the rolling
prairies. Indians rOamed the
plains. Many of the pioneers lived
in crude sod huts.
Stagecoach drivers were heroes
to the boys in Rochester. They
were rough characters, but the
glamor of adventure hung over
them in the eyes of young Will and
his playmates. They dashed into
the town, pulling up foam-flecked
horses with a flourish that was
highly impressive in juvenile eyes.
They were a link with the great
world outside the little prairie set
tlement.
But like most of US, who in our
youth dream of becoming firemen,
policemen, engineers, cowboys-or
stagecoach drivers-young Mayo's
ambition was soon directed into
other channels. His fathers prac-
tice covered much of the southern
part of the state. The boy often
accompanied him on visits to pa
tients far out on the lonely prairie
The youngster saw Indians liv-
ing in wigwams while on such
trips. He held the horses when his
father made calls in the sod huts
of the homesteaders, occasionally
assisting in the setting of broken
limb. He witnessed suffering and
fortitude.
His environment tended to di-
rect him toward the study of medi-
cine. He made up his mind when
he was in high school to follow in
the footsteps of his father and so
many Of his ancestors. After be-
ing graduated from the high school
in Rochester he attended Niles
academy. From there he went to
the University of Michigan. He
was graduated in medicine in 1883.
He had hardly returned to the
old-fashioned home, which his IA
ther had built in Rochester and in
which he spent his bOyhood, than
he had an opportunity to show the
benefits Of his training. A tornado,
one of those wind storms so dread
ed in the fiat prairie country,
struck Rochester and wrecked part
of the village.
His father turned his home into
q hospital. The elder Mayo, the
newly made DR.. William Mayo and
his brother, Charles III. Mayo, then
a medical student, treated the in
jured. The sons assisted their IA
ther in several emergency opera
tiOnS.
DR.. William J. Mayo made an
excellent record in college. So did
his brother. Both learned medi-
cine as they grew up. Doctor Will
worked in a drug store during his
vacations. Doctors Charles did
likewise. Furthermore they had
the direct benefit of the deep
knowledge and wide experience of
their father.
They had good microscope
when they were in high school.
Their father bought it specially for
them and taught them its use.
They studied with it many winter
nights when a blizzard roared out
side the comfortable home of the
Mayos. Such training and advan-
tages were most helpful when it
came time for them to take up seri-
ously the study of their chosen pro-
feSSion.
The first real practical expert
ence DR.. William J. Mayo had as a
practicing physician In Rochester
Indirectly brought about the estab-
lishment of the world famous Mayo
clinic. Rochester was without
hospital. The need for such an in
stitution was emphasized after the
tornado had left death and suffer
ing in it's wake.
The Sisters of st. Francis, who
had served as nurses for the Mayos
when they were administering to
the needs of the tornado victims,
agreed to help build a hospital if
the MayOs would serve as physi-
clans and surgeons. Doctor Wills
father donated the land. The
brothers thus began their work to-
gether. Out of that early asso-
citation has grown their own world
known institution for the relief of
suffering humanity.
1QQ0 hv Tho North American