More about Dr. William B. Mayo from THE NORTHFIELD NEWS, APRIL 29, 1930.

The following is from an article, by Prof. C. H. Spooner, President, NU, 1904-1915

"Dr. William B. Mayo's professional training, begun in the New York Homeopathic Medical Center of New York City, was supplemented by years of association with Dr. Brigham, Dr. Bradford and Dr. Porter, old practitioners, who were glad to call on him in emergencies and when long rides over the mountains seemed too exhausting for men of their age, and glad to share with him the results of their observations and long experience. Their association was most helpful to the doctor, young (23 years of age), alert, keen of mind, with memory almost abnormally retentive of details, ambitious. All in all, his entire 52 year professional career as a county doctor was successful.

"Inevitably, to that region, he became not only a healer of physical ills, and usher of life's entrances and a soother of rough exits, but also a confidant, guide, counselor and friend, to all who found the problems of life perplexing and its trials hard to bear…

"To the community as a whole his services were great indeed; for, almost from the beginning of his life in it, he shared in the formulation and execution of plans to promote its welfare: economic, civic, altruism, pride, realization that growth in communal welfare meant improvement in personal fortune, all prompted him to take part in this work. He and his associates made it their business to foster growth of existing industries and to increase them in number and kind; they planned for the water system, the sewer system, the growth and improvement of the schools and always in his mind was the college on the Hill…

"Probably no avocation from his professional and personal business pursuits occupied so much of his thought and time as did Norwich University, It would be hard to tell why…perhaps is was to him at first just another of those Northfield ventures that needed betterment…

"Be that as it may, he took hold with a will that never relaxed. He helped in the thwarting of those who would have closed the institution by the foreclosure of a mortgage for a few hundred dollars; found ways to secure or enlarge the interest of officers in the War Department.

He was responsible for the assignment of an officer of the regular army to serve as professor of military science and tactics and as commandant in 1887, and, except for war periods, army officers have been regularly detailed. In 1884, as a member of the Vermont Legislature he fathered and procured passage of the law which provided for the first state aid which the State of Vermont ever granted to Norwich.

"He stood by to prevent the annulment of the charter when a move was made by friends of another college. And again from 1912 to 1915 he was a strong bulwark of defense against powerful, if not piratical, efforts to destroy the institution. But these extraordinary efforts were but little of all he put forth; from 1885 to the day of his death he served as a member of the Board of Trustees, not as a passive member, but active and earnest, seeking to know and get done the things that should be done; and this despite perplexities, annoyances and harassments without number and almost without limit.

'But there were some compensations, for he lived to see the prosperity of the college change in value from a building and grounds mortgaged for more than they would bring at auction to holdings nearing a million. He saw the endowment grow from a note payable to two million assured; the number of the faculty from three of four to about 40 and the enrollment from a baker's dozen to 325.

"In the words of President Charles Plumley, 'As president of Norwich University, I express to you, Doctor Mayo, the deep, sincere and genuine appreciation of and gratitude for the sacrifices you have made and distinguished service you have rendered throughout the years to Norwich University…42 years of consecutive, uninterrupted and loyal devotion to your adopted alma mater, a record of which any man has a right to be proud.'"