Ed Mayer packed far more than 71 years’ worth of laughter, adventure and community service into what friends and family say was a life well lived.

Even during his final days in the hospital, he maintained his sense of humor, bet on basketball games with his son and took time to make sure that family and friends were doing OK.

Best known for his nearly three decades at the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, retiring as undersheriff in 2002, Mayer died June 19 after a two-month battle with health issues.

Born Sept. 21, 1951, to Helen and Andy Smith in Emmett, Idaho, Mayer’s dad died when he was 3 years old. Mayer and his brother, Gary, were later adopted by their stepfather, Reece Mayer, who moved the family to Medford when Ed was 6.

Spending the rest of his life in the Rogue Valley, Mayer grew up working summers on his family’s turkey ranch in the Applegate Valley and attended Hoover Elementary, Hedrick Jr. High School and Medford High School, where he played for the basketball team.

Mayer graduated from Southern Oregon University with a degree in criminology. He held nearly every position in the sheriff’s office, including helping start and lead the drug enforcement agency, JACNET. 

Mayer’s wife, Nancy Mayer, recalled countless adventures and funny stories with her husband of 24 years. The couple shared a blended family of five kids — all close in age and “teenagers at the same time.” Nancy Mayer said her husband always found ways to help the community in ways others might not realize.

During his tenure at the sheriff’s office, Mayer’s favorite memories included meeting President Bush — older and younger — “I only let him have the photo of the older one on the wall,” Nancy quipped.

Others on the wall show him training at the FBI academy and with the dozens of organizations he helped to improve.

Mayer helped found the Upper Rogue Youth Activities after-school program, he served on the Jackson County Fire District 4 board of directors and helped establish the county’s volunteer-focused Community Emergency Response Team.

“Every group he could be involved in, and that made sense to him, he would help. His thing was, ‘Let’s get to work.’ He was never just a body filling a spot,” Nancy said.

“He was the guy who would give you the shirt off his back and then ask what else he could do.”

Immediately after retiring as undersheriff, preceded by a failed election bid against former Sheriff Mike Winters, Mayer served for a year as director of Court Appointed Special Advocates before purchasing a fifth-wheel and traveling the country with his wife. The couple eventually retired to Shady Cove.

Alex Mayer, who lives in New York, remembered his dad’s focus on good morals and on showing up in big and small ways. After Mayer’s divorce from his first wife, he purchased a house within a few blocks of his ex-wife, “just to be close to his kids,” Alex said. As a budget-friendly way to spend lots of time together, Mayer would take his sons to Donut Country in Medford and then watch planes fly in and out of the Medford airport.

“There were donuts and there was also a little burger joint — I think it was called Hot-N-Now — that had 99-cent burgers. It wasn’t the healthiest meal, but we would load up on 15 burgers and go sit in his truck and watch the planes,” Alex said.

“It was around fire season, so there would be a bunch of fire tankers filling up and taking off. He was interested in anything going on with the big public agencies.”

Alex said he would cherish time with his dad — including hearing tales of his traveling the country in a “rinky-dink old van” after college, coaching any sport his kids were involved in and long phone calls “just to chat.”

“He had countless stories about buying that old van. When I was rooting through his stuff, I found some old letters from him to his mom, postmarked from different areas around the country. He was always checking in, telling her he loved her and about these different adventures he was going on,” Alex said.

“He recently came out to visit me and my wife, and we kept it going. We rented a pontoon plane and did a tour, only six months ago.”

Retired sheriff’s office Lt. Dewey Patten met Mayer when the two were students at Hedrick Jr. High School. Mayer and Patten were part of a group of 10 recruits hired at JCSO on the same day in 1975. Patten retired in 2006, after 31 years. He remembered pizzas, beers and fishing with Mayer, as well as important cases solved and plenty of laughter.

“Ed was just a great guy to work for and there was never any ranting and raving. He was just a real laid-back guy,” Patten said.

“He was funny, but he had good moral values, not bending the rules at all. Very ethical and an all-around good guy.”

Medford resident Sue Calzaretta, a friend of Mayer since 1977, credited Mayer with her decision to pursue a career in law enforcement. Calzaretta was the first female officer to work at JACNET and was JCSO’s first female detective.

“I was in college and thinking I should be a nurse or teacher or something. … I worked in a coffee shop, which was where I met Ed and I met Shirley Peters, who was the first female officer in Medford. The two of them were instrumental in my life,” she said.

“I knew him 47 years. … Ed made a big impact on everyone who knew him. He was always focusing on how to do things for the good and how to help anyone he could.”

Medford resident Chris Borovansky said Mayer’s death left a “hole in the hearts of those who knew him.” Borovansky moved to Southern Oregon to become county fairgrounds director in 1988. Borovansky and Mayer, the sheriff’s department liaison for fairgrounds security at the time, became friends, traveled together with their families and spearheaded dozens of community projects together.

“Every time I got involved in some community activity, I roped him into it. He didn’t have the ability to say no to anybody that needed something,” Borovansky said this week.

“Zero tolerance for knuckleheads was kind of Ed’s motto, but he worked harder and cared more than anybody I knew.”

Asked his favorite memories of Mayer, Borovansky teased that only some could be repeated.

“Ed had a great dry sense of humor. It’s one of the things I’ll miss most about him. He always had this kind of a sly grin that he knew something and only he knew it and he wasn’t about to let you in on it,” he said.

Borovansky said he and Mayer helped start Medford’s Red, White and Boom festival at the former Miles Field.

“We borrowed this huge American flag… and two cranes. And Ed and I figured out that year that an America flag should be on one crane, because if you attach two, it becomes a big sail,” Borovansky said, laughing.

“I remember we were being interviewed by the news and a big gust of wind came along and lifted Ed five feet off the ground. There was a photo on the front page of the Mail Tribune (newspaper) with Ed dangling from this American flag with a big grin on his face… but he couldn’t let go because he was five feet in the air.”

Other favorite memories for Borovansky included houseboat stays on Lake Shasta and a trip to Hawaii where Borovansky helped rescue — and performed CPR — on a drowning deer. Mayer couldn’t stop laughing and ensured the incident was relayed to the local news following the trip. Borovansky said it was hard to wrap his mind around an end to the laughter and long talks with his longtime friend.

“We’ve all had people we’ve lost. Some people, you just accept it. There are others you think, ‘Wow, they can’t really be gone. … He was such a big part of everyone’s lives,” Borovansky said.

Alex Mayer took comfort in knowing that his dad realized his impact on those around him. Alex said he and his dad were betting on ball games in his dad’s final days, including an NBA playoff game just days before Mayer died. Mayer said his dad’s legacy could be best described as a life lived in service to family and community.

“He was just always the guy making sure everyone was OK and figuring out how to make his community better,” Alex said.

“I recently had a grandfather pass away, who was in his 90s. It made me wonder, if my dad had that extra 30 years, what else could he have done? I’m sure it would have been a lot, but I take comfort that, at the very end, he also was just so content with the impact he had made.”

Alex added, “There was a lot of life in his years. In his last days, he was very resolute in feeling that, ‘I’m really happy with the impact that I’ve made, and I can feel good about going out on that note.’”

Mayer is survived by his wife, Nancy; his brother, Gary; his children Gary, Alex, Drew, Meghan and Garrett; son in-law, Andrew; daughters in-law Julia and Courtney; and grand-children Daisy, Rosemary, Francis, Alden and Etta.

A memorial is planned from 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday, July 7, at Valley View Winery in Jacksonville. In a nod to his humor, Mayer requested that wine and donuts be served at the event. In lieu of flowers or gifts, family members ask that donations be made to the Jackson County Fire District 4 Support Group, P.O. Box 394, Shady Cove, OR 97539.

See the online obituary for Mayer at rv-times.com.