RICHARD GILBERT AYER

His elementary education was received in the private schools of Haverhill, Tilton Academy, Tilton, New Hampshire, and at Phillips Andover, Andover, Massachusetts. He attended Harvard University and graduated from Harvard Medical School in 1891. His professional career was begun at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

On September 15, 1896, Dr. Ayer married Blanche Estelle Westcott at Albany, New York. The doctor and his wife had one daughter, Mildred Florence (Mrs. Harold E. Stafford).

About 1899 Dr Ayer went to Mexico where he spent 14 years, mostly as head physician for the Guggenheim Company at Asarco, a large copper mining camp some miles from the city of Durango. His wife and daughter lived with him at the camp. However, revolution and a change of government, with looting and pillaging by all factions, forced the Ayers to flee for their lives leaving all their savings and belongings behind. They secured mules and, with the assistance of a guide, crossed the Sierra Madre Mountains to Mazatlan on the coast, a distance of nearly 300 miles. They met several parties of marauders on the way, but, as they had only the clothes they wore and the mules they were riding, they were not molested. On reaching Mazatlan in September, 1913, they boarded the U.S. transport,"Buford", and were taken to San Diego. From there they went east to their old home to rest and recuperate.

Coming to Honolulu in February, 1914, Dr. Ayer was licensed to practice in April and took over the practice of Dr. George J. Augur during his absence. In July, 1915, he was appointed police surgeon and physician for the Emergency Hospital. His interest in the Emergency Hospital was responsible for its growth from a makeshift affair with limited medical and surgical facilities to an efficient and modern unit. He also advocated the segregation of criminals from other patients at the Insane Asylum. In addition to his other duties, he held the post of physician for the Rapid Transit Company.

Dr. Ayer died March 30, 1926, in Honolulu at the age of 58.

He was a member of the Hawaii Medical Society.

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