GREGORY WAYNE MEYER MD

1957 - 2011

GREGORY WAYNE MEYER, MD
1957 ~ 2011
GREGORY WAYNE MEYER, MD was born in 1957 in Merced, California and died at the age of 53 after a tragic hiking accident on June 29, 2011 in Yosemite National Park. The following words are extracted from a Merced Sun-Star article written by Executive Editor Mike Tharp which is quite meaningful and a gift to Greg's family.
A family lost more than a husband, father, son and brother when Greg Meyer of Merced died while trying to rescue a friend and colleague in Hetch Hetchy, Yosemite National Park.
Meyer, 53, and physician assistant Richard Fox, 53, were swept to their deaths while trying to cross a bridge at Wapama Falls, which was swollen by near-record ice melt and an unseasonably late thunder storm. Meyer was trying to save Fox, who was overtaken by rushing water according to Paula Meyer who survived the accident.
The Meyer family lost a budding rancher, a gourmet cook, the driver of a battered '69 green pickup, a tree grower, a pie baker, a wine connoisseur, an ice cream maker and a man whose trademark under pressure was striving to be the calmest man in the ER.
Greg touched all those around him with a special sense of "grace and elegance," which is how he defined a "great" practitioner of emergency medicine, which is what he did at Presbyterian Intercommunity Hospital in Whittier.
That's where the Merced High graduate met his wife, Paula, in 1997, when he was a doctor and she was a physician assistant. It wasn't love at first sight -- "we bonded over cooking," she recalls -- but after they were married in 2006, they became inseparable and expanded their joy with twin daughters, Kate and Emily, in 2008.
His parents think back to a boy who borrowed $140 from his dad at age 8 to buy a Hereford bull. He saved nickels from his allowance to pay back the loan, with 1 percent interest, until his dad finally told him he could pay him in full when he sold Cheyenne, the bull. "He had 30 head of cattle when he went to college," his mom remembers.
And Paula, Texas-born but Southern California-bred, had no clue that the guy who took her to lunch at the Bel Air Hotel in L.A. for their first date was more comfortable riding in the "Green Beast" pickup, wearing an old straw Stetson hat and muddy work boots."Bet you never thought when you met me you'd get cow bleep on your shoes," he told her after one of their trips back to Merced. It was also on a visit to Merced that he took her to the Branding Iron and they dined under his own brand.
He blended a high-profile career in emergency medicine with a down-home love of the ranch. Paula used to surprise and entertain friends at the ER with photos of the two of them in Merced, hauling compost and working the land. In recent years, they'd begun to spend two weeks in Whittier and two weeks in Merced, at the 17-acre ranch where he planted oak, peach, almond, cherry and plum trees. "He was living his dream," his mom says. Adds Paula: "We had a charmed and beautiful life. I've never met anybody who had a happier childhood and lived everyday to the fullest." Greg was an Elks member, donated to the Merced Theatre restoration project, contributed to the Presbyterian Intercommunity Hospital Foundation in Whittier as well as to Mercy Medical Center Merced although his own medical partnership was in Southern California.
He learned to cook and loved it. Their babies' first solid food was fresh steamed broccoli and rutabagas he'd grown. With good food came good wine, and although he wasn't a snob, he liked to pick wines he liked. Years ago, he proposed to Paula at Hetch Hetchy after telling her to come look at some "variegated stones" in the water -- and the ruby one was a bottle of Peter Michael wine.Two days before he died, he reproposed to her, using the same ploy and the same wine, while asking if she knew everything she knew now back when he first asked her to marry him, would she have done it?"Oh yes," she told him. "I had no doubts in how much I was loved."
Greg was all-Merced through and through, a career lifesaver and a hero to many.One of his partners says that although there were 13 doctors in the Whittier partnership, Greg was an "influential de facto leader. He had this ability to get in there and work with all the partners." One of them, Dennis Conneen, was on a 10-day religious retreat in England, broke off his trip after two days and flew back to California when he heard Greg had died. He was a cherished friend of Greg's and delivered a beautiful eulogy at Greg's memorial service in Whittier. "He died a happy man," says Annetta. Paula reflects, "I'm very thankful for that pure and honest love Greg gave me."(Reprinted with permission) Greg is survived by his wife, Paula, his twin daughters Kate and Emily, his parents, Chuck and Annetta Meyer of Merced and sister, Kellee Meyer and her husband Doug Brown, also from Merced, his grandmother, Mary Wood his aunt, Myrna Akins, of McHenry, IL and three cousins, Andrea Akins Berrett of Arrington, TN, Angela Smith of Rancho Santa Margarita, CA, and Aric Akins of Poplar Grove, IL and their respective spouses and children. Greg was predeceased by his grandfather, Iris (Spud) Wood, who was extremely inspirational to Greg in both his love of the outdoors and farm life.
Greg attended Merced High School, University of California at Irvine for both his undergraduate and medical degrees. He completed his internship and residency in Emergency Medicine at Harbor UCLA in Los Angeles, and a fellowship in Hyperbaric Medicine at Long Beach Memorial, Long Beach, CA.Greg's family is profoundly grateful to Mark Alee, the California Conservation Corps professional who bravely risked his life trying to save Ric and Greg. Paula acknowledges she may not be alive today if it weren't for Mark's selfless act of heroism, quick physical strength and his strength of character. Steve Yu, the lead investigator, Rebecca Lund, the family liason, both with the National Park Service have treated our family with unusual kindness and respect throughout this tragedy. We also are grateful for the many men and women who searched tirelessly for Greg after the accident under extreme conditions.
We have two very special requests for those of you that know Greg well or were touched by his life. The first request, in lieu of flowers, the family would appreciate donations to a scholarship fund set up by his father and mother in Greg's honor. This money will be used to aid aspiring and inspiring medical students to continue and expand on Greg's life's work in medicine. Please make checks payable to the "UC Merced Foundation". Be sure to include your return address on the check and in the memo field, write "Dr. Greg Meyer Scholarship in Medical Education".Donations can be mailed to:University of California, MercedGift Administration Office5200 North Lake RoadMerced, CA 95343
The second request, and one of the best gifts you can offer our family, and his three year old daughters in particular, is to share your memories of Greg in stories and pictures. These treasures will be compiled and printed for his daughters, family, and friends (upon request). Please send your stories and pictures to the following email address: MemoriesOfGreg@gmail.com.
A memorial service will be held Saturday, August 13th at 10:00 A.M. at the Christian Life Center, 650 East Olive Avenue Merced, CA 95340 with a luncheon reception immediately following at the same location.