Obituaries / LJWorld.com

Obituaries

Memorial services for Dr. Lawrence A. Mayer, 73, of Lawrence, will be at 3 p.m. Saturday at Plymouth Congregational Church. Inurnment will be at a later date.Dr. Mayer died Thursday, Aug. 14, 2008, at his home after a long battle with cancer.He was born May 30, 1935, in Kansas City, Kan., the son of Frank E. and Nina Waskon Mayer. He attended Kansas City, Kan., public schools and graduated from Wyandotte High School in 1953. He attended Kansas University for three years, then graduated in 1960 from the School of Dentistry at the University of Kansas City, now the University of Missouri-Kansas City. At KU he was a member of the Lambda Chi Alpha social fraternity, and he was later a member of Xi Psi Phi honorary dental fraternity. Dr. Mayer served in the U.S. Navy as a dental officer in California from 1960 to 1963 and later retired from the U.S. Navy Reserve as a lieutenant commander. Dr. Mayer established his private dental practice in Lawrence in 1963. He was a member of the Douglas County Dental Society, Kansas Dental Society and the American Dental Association. He retired from dentistry in 2001 after 38 years. He then did woodworking for his wife's decorative arts business. He was a member of Plymouth Congregational Church and helped establish the Achievement Place for Girls, where he served on the board of directors. He was active in the Lawrence Jaycees from 1964 through 1971, where he was a local president and state vice president. He was also a JCI senator. He helped establish the Achievement Place for Boys and served as an adviser to its board. Dr. Mayer was a founding board member of the Lawrence Boys Club, now the Boys and Girls Club, where he served as president for the first two years. He helped with the local Soap Box Derby and annual Fourth of July fireworks display. Most recently he was a five-year volunteer for the Lawrence Memorial Hospital Oncology Department.He married June Shenk on June 7, 1957, in Prairie Village. She survives, of the home.Other survivors include a daughter, Cynthia Thompson and husband Ted, Lawrence; two sons, David and wife Sally, Lawrence, and Michael and wife Nesreen, Green Cove Springs, Fla.; a brother, Bill Mayer, Lawrence; seven grandchildren, Lindsay Pannell, Andrew and Zackary Thompson, and Erin, Allison, Hannah and Isaac Mayer; and four great-grandchildren.The family will receive friends following the services at the church. The family suggests memorials to the Carcinoid Foundation, LMH Oncology Department, the Douglas County Visiting Nurses, Rehabilitation and Hospice, or Boys and Girls Club of Lawrence, sent in care of Warren-McElwain Mortuary.Online condolences may be sent at <a href="http://www.warrenmcelwain.com">www.warrenmcelwain.com</a>, subject: Mayer.