January 23, 1926

M. V. Mayfield of Mena (Polk County), who had been practicing medicine as a man, was publicly revealed to have the biological characteristics of a female, causing a stir in the national media. Mayfield had come to Mena in 1918 and practiced medicine with the identity of a man for seven or eight years. A small, kind, and peaceful citizen, Mayfield had been known as “the cancer doctor.” Little is known about Mayfield’s early life. Mayfield died on August 24, 1929 and was buried in Gann Cemetery, south of Mena, as a pauper, and, as Mayfield had wished, in men’s clothing, with the service performed by a woman, Fannie Vise.