Meyer, Sam 1917(?)-2003

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MEYER, Sam 1917(?)-2003

PERSONAL:

Born c. 1917, in Decorah, IA; died of a stroke, January 11, 2003, in Chicago, IL; married; wife's name Sarah; children: Robin, Lindy, June. Education: University of Iowa, B.A. (commerce; cum laude), 1940; University of Chicago, M.A., 1948; Loyola University, Chicago, Ph.D. (English), 1960.

CAREER:

Educator and author. Civilian Conservation Corps, 1938-39; Tennessee Valley Authority, Wilson Dam, AL, junior clerk, 1940-41; Goldblatt's (department store), Chicago, IL, director of profit sharing and pension plan, 1946-48; St. Charles High School, Chicago, teacher of English and journalism, 1949-51; Bensenville High School, teacher, 1952-55; Morton College, Cicero, IL, professor of English, 1955-68, chairman of language arts department, 1968-75, professor emeritus, 1975-2003. Military service: U.S. Navy, active duty, 1941-46; during World War II served in Cuba and Algeria; postwar served at Glenview Naval Air station, Glenview, IL; U.S. Naval Reserves, 1946-75; attained rank of captain.

AWARDS, HONORS:

George Washington Honor Medal, Freedoms Foundation of Valley Forge, 1991, for "Religion, Patriotism, and Poetry in the Life of Francis Scott Key."

WRITINGS:

An Interpretation of Edmund Spenser's Colin Clout, University of Notre Dame Press (Notre Dame, IN), 1969.

Paradoxes of Fame: The Francis Scott Key Story, East-wind Publishing (Annapolis, MD), 1995.

Contributor to periodicals, including Naval Officer, Retired Officer, Maryland Historical Magazine, Journal of American Composition, Rhetoric Society Quarterly, and Navy Supply Corps Newsletter.

SIDELIGHTS:

Educator and author Sam Meyer was widely recognized as the biographer of Francis Scott Key, who wrote the lyrics to the national anthem.

Meyer was born of immigrant parents and grew up during the Great Depression. He served with the Civilian Conservation Corps, and at the same time continued studying toward his bachelor's degree. Meyer was working as a clerk at the Wilson Dam in Alabama, a Tennessee Valley Authority project, when World War II erupted. In 1941, he joined the U.S. Navy, and because he could type and had a college degree, he was given the rank of yeoman first class and a position with naval intelligence at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

In 1943, Meyer was commissioned as an ensign in the Naval Reserve Supply Corps and posted first in Algeria, and then stateside following the war until his discharge in 1946. He remained in the Reserves until 1975. While studying for his master's degree, Meyer worked for Goldblatt's department store in Chicago, then became an English teacher in Chicago high schools. Twelve years later, after acquiring a Ph.D., he became a professor at Morton College.

A frequent contributor to military and historical journals, Meyer was also the author of a number of volumes, including An Interpretation of Edmund Spenser's Colin Clout, a study of the work of the Irish poet. Brad Webber wrote in a Chicago Tribune obituary that "Meyer's natural curiosity led him to a career that included everything from an academic analysis of esoteric Renaissance poetry to an essay distilling the meaning of colors in the titles of John D. MacDonald's hard-boiled crime sagas."

Meyer's research of titles led to his fascination with the title of "The Star-Spangled Banner" and ultimately to his study of the patriotic and humble man who wrote the lyrics, and whose biography he penned as Paradoxes of Fame: The Francis Scott Key Story.