William Henry Myers

William Henry Myers, of Oxford, died at his home in Oxford on Saturday morning, February 24, 2001. He was 88. Born February 22, 1913 at Plimhimmon Farm, Oxford, his family home for four generations, he was the son of the late William Henry and Wilson Strayer Myers. After graduating from Oxford High School, he attended the University of Maryland until his senior year when he returned home to manage the farm and take care of his extended family after the death of his father. He continued to farm for sixty-five years. A lifelong hunter, he was a pioneer in the development of the commercial hunting business in Talbot County. Until the governmental ban on goose hunting, thousands of hunting enthusiasts, including such notables as Bing Crosby and the Crown Prince and Princess of Nepal, benefited from his knowledge of how to make a hunt successful. At the time of his death, he was as member of the Board of Directors of the Talbot Bank in Easton where he had served for over fifty years including a term as Chairman and a Director Emeritus and past president of the Oxford Cemetery Company. He served on the Board of Directors of the Memorial Hospital at Easton from 1969 - 1975 and as its Secretary from 1971 - 1975. A founding member of the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels, he had also served a term as a commissioner of the Town of Oxford. He had a lifelong love of sailing and started sailing sixteen-foot knockabouts in the early days of racing in Oxford. Later, he successfully raced Star Boats, Penguins and cruising sailboats. Over the years, he won many Star Class Regattas on the Chesapeake Bay and nationally, including races in the Chicago, IL and Gibson Island, MD World Championships. Racing his cruising boats named "White Shadow", he and his family won the Annapolis Fall Series Viking Trophy and several Chesapeake Bay Yacht Racing Association High Point Championships. He competed in many ocean races crewing on board "Reindeer" and "Dyna". He was a founding member of the Tred Avon Yacht Club in Oxford and served as its Commodore from 1951 - 1953. He was also a member of the Chesapeake Bay Yacht Club and served as its Commodore 1977 -78. He was a member of the Sailing Club of the Chesapeake and served as a class representative for the Star class to the North American Yacht Racing Union. He was at home on any sailboat and successfully competed against some of the best sailors of his time. Mr. Myers is survived by his wife, the former Grace Geiger Wilford whom he married in 1943; two daughters, Marjorie Myers Robfogel and her husband, James, of Rochester, NY and Eleanor Myers O''Mara and her husband, Gerald, of Oxford, MD; two grandsons, William Myers O''Mara of Cary, NC and Gerald Knight O''Mara of Oxford, Md. and many nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by two brothers, Bevan, in infancy,and Paul Robert Myers, M.D. and a sister, LuMar Myers Slocum. A Memorial Service will be held on Tuesday, February 27, 2001 at 11 A. M. at the Oxford United Methodist Church, Oxford, MD. Private burial will be at the Oxford Cemetery, Oxford. Memorial donations, in his memory, may be made to Talbot Hospice Foundation, 586 Cynwood Drive, Easton, MD 21601 or to the Oxford Vol. Fire Co., P. O. Box 421, Oxford, MD or to the Oxford Cemetery Company, P. O. Box 189, Oxford, MD 21654.