Even beyond his twenty years as headmaster, Bernier Mayo acted tirelessly to improve his beloved alma mater. And he toiled behind the scenes to strengthen St. Johnsbury.
My own early work to develop the town’s Catamount Arts organization - would have been harder without Bernier’s support. He provided the Academy’s Fuller Hall and partnered to produce annual Shakespeare performances for the region’s students. When we turned the town’s former post office building into an arts center, Bernier and his fabulous wife Jeanette helped clean up the place, co-signed a loan, and asked their friends to join them.
Bernier was an ardent conservative and proud Republican - and in 2003 Governor Douglas appointed him to serve in the Vermont State Senate. His views placed us on different sides of some issues - but it only mattered once, when we presented Joe Papp’s Vietnam-themed production of TRACERS, performed and directed by anti-war combat vets. I’ll never forget the moment when I was paged while visiting the Smithsonian. Bernier was on the phone, agitated about comments by the play’s director, in the New Haven Register, saying that Headmaster Mayo advised his students to not attend their show.
“I had nothing to do with the article,” I said, while standing by the Apollo 11 space capsule. “But did you tell the kids not to attend?”
“I did,” he said. “But they ignored me and went anyway. So the theater troupe should thank me.”
We met afterwards to clear the air and Bernier later hired me to teach screenwriting. While at the Academy, I had a self-described socialist eleventh grader who loved to spar with Bernier on politics. Bernier took great delight in their animated bouts - and privately confided to me that this young man was a favorite.
Bernier Mayo was an activist on behalf of his views - his cherished Academy - and his hometown. And he embodied an idea that I remember from acclaimed Italian film director, Francesco Rosi - that life is more complex than ideology.
Bernier’s life was indeed complex - and his impact on the people and places he loved will be long appreciated and remembered.
