Herbert Mayfield

Infobox _ Person
name=Herbert Earl Mayfield
nationality=American
birth_date=birth date |1920|12|20
death_date=death date and age|2008|5|29|1920|12|20
birth_place=flagicon|OklahomaErick, Beckham County, Oklahoma, USA
death_place=flagicon|USAAmarillo, Texas
residence=flagicon|TexasDimmitt, Castro County, Texas
occupation=Musician; Welder
spouse= Dorothy McLain Mayfield (born 1931; married 1952–his death)
children= Bryan C. Mayfield
Britt Mayfield
Marla Morgan Wilson
Three grandchildren
church=Baptist
footnotes=(1) Herb Mayfield is remembered for his musical talents with the Mayfield Brothers, but he earned his living as a welder for cattle feedlots in West Texas.

(2) Mayfield was active in civic affairs in his adopted hometown of Dimmitt, Texas, having been president of the rodeo association and a member of the fair board.
(3) Mayfield and his brother, Smokey Mayfield, both fought in the Battle of the Bulge during World War II.

Herbert Earl Mayfield, known as Herb Mayfield (December 20, 1920–May 29, 2008), with his brothers Thomas Edd Mayfield (1926–1958) and Arlie V. "Smokey" Mayfield (1924–2008), was a member of the Mayfield Brothers Bluegrass band of West Texas. He played the mandolin and the guitar. During the late 1940s, the Mayfields were warmup musicians in Lubbock and Amarillo for Tennessee Ernie Ford, Maddox Brothers and Rose, Hank Snow, and other Country groups. All of the Mayfield family played musical instruments, beginning with the mandolin. Herbert Mayfield recalled rushing from his ranch chores to devote time to practicing music. After World War II, the trio went on the circuit playing Bluegrass until Edd left the band to join Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys.Herbert E. Mayfield obituary, " in Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, June 1, 2008:http://www.lubbockonline.com/stories/060108/obi_285049864.shtml]

Mayfield was born in Erick in Beckham County in southwestern Oklahoma to William Fletcher Mayfield (died 1952), and the former Penelope Drake (died 1937). In January 1931, he moved with his family to Dimmitt, the seat of Castro County near Lubbock. He graduated from Dimmitt High School and was awarded a basketball scholarship to college. During World War II, Mayfield served in the United States Army Air Corps, the forerunner to the Air Force. He participated in troop movements during the Normandy invasion and the Battle of the Bulge, in which his brother Smokey also fought.

In 1951, Mayfield married the former Dorothy McLain (born 1931) in Hart in Castro County. Active in community affairs, he was a former president of the Dimmitt Rodeo Association and was a member of the Fair Board. He was also affiliated with the Panhandle Blue Grass Association. He was Baptist. Two weeks prior to Mayfield's death, the International Blue Grass Museum in Owensboro, Kentucky, interviewed him in Dimmitt in preparation for a forthcoming documentary on the Mayfield musical family. For much of his adult life, Mayfield was a welder for cattle feedlots. He and Mrs. Mayfield supported student scholarships for those pursuing the study of Bluegrass music at South Plains College in Levelland west of Lubbock. South Plains honored Herbert and Smokey Mayfield in a special ceremony in 1989 as pioneers of Bluegrass music.Susan Dailey, the recipient of a Mayfield scholarship in 1993, recalled Mayfield as "an inspiration to me as a mandolin student. . . . The stories of his early musical years on the [Green Valley] ranch also fascinated me as a musician and as a visual artist. . . . I feel fortunate to have been acquainted with Herb. He was a wonderful man. . . . " [Susan Dailey, Herbert Mayfield Guest Book, Colonial Funeral Home, Dimmitt, Texas, June 2, 2008:http://www.colonialfuneralhome.org/sitemaker/sites/coloni0/obit.cgi?user=herbert-mayfield=] Mayfield died of renal failure in an Amarillo hospital. In addition to his wife Dorothy, he was survived by two sons, Bryan C. Mayfield (born February 8, 1957) and wife Nina of Shoreview near St. Paul, Minnesota, Britt Mayfield (born April 1, 1959) and wife Missy of Vernon, the seat of Wilbarger County west of Wichita Falls; one daughter, Marla Morgan Wilson of Flower Mound near Dallas; three grandchildren, Melynn Mayfield, Nick Vukelich, and Devin Mayfield; two brothers, James "Jim" Mayfield, a retired rancher from Playas in southwestern New Mexico and Smokey Mayfield of Hutchinson County near Spearman in the northern Texas Panhandle. Some three months after the passing of Herbert Mayfield, Smokey Mayfield died of a heart attack, a complication from neuropathy. Edd Mayfield died of leukemia in 1958 at the age of thirty-two in Bluefield, West Virginia, while he was on tour with Bill Monroe. Services for Herb Mayfield were held on June 1, 2008, at the First Baptist Church of Dimmitt. Burial was in Hart Cemetery in Hart.

References