Joe Charles Mayfield
Apr 30, 1938 - Feb 14, 2022
Joe C. Mayfield, 83, of Manhattan, KS, passed away Monday, February 14th, at the Via Christi Village in Manhattan. Joe was a retired US Army Major and substitute schoolteacher.
Joe Charles Mayfield was born in Del Rio, TX on April 30, 1938, the son of the late Rachel Rosecrans Lane and Joe Telford Mayfield. He was the husband of Rebecca Fern (Sadler) Mayfield, and they were married in Hopkinsville, KY on March 18, 1960, She survives in Manhattan, KS.
He joined the Army Reserves in High School when he went to Basic Training and Advanced Training as a Combat Engineer. He attended West Point and Texas A&M in 1958-1959. After he left Texas A&M, he enlisted in the active Army as an infantryman, and went to Airborne school, and was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division, followed by the 173d Airborne Brigade in Okinawa, Japan. He was an enlisted man for ten years and went to Ft. Sill, Oklahoma for Officer Candidate School (OCS), where he was commissioned as an Artillery officer. He went to the 25th Infantry Division in Hawaii and deployed with them to Vietnam in 1966. His next assignment was as a Howitzer Battery Commander, 6th Cavalry Regiment, Ft Meade, MD, where he deployed upon the streets of Washington, DC during the 1968 Riots. He went back to Vietnam as an Artillery Battery Commander for the 173d Airborne Brigade in Vietnam. After Vietnam, he was assigned to V Corps Artillery Headquarter (HQ) in Darmstadt, Germany. His final assignment was to Fort Riley, where he served as the S-3 for 1st Bn, 7th Field Artillery, and as the Division Artillery S-3. He retired in 1979 as a Major at Fort Riley, KS, after 23 years in the Army.
Joe graduated from KSU with a Bachelor’s degree in Social Sciences in 1975 and a Masters’ degree in Education in 1982. He served as a substitute teacher for Jr High and High schools in Manhattan, Junction City, and surrounding school districts for six years. He taught Special Ed, Drama, Girls PE, history, and a variety of other subjects as a substitute, sometimes for most of the academic year.
Joe is survived by his wife of their home in Manhattan; two sons Robert L. (Lorrie) Mayfield, of Junction City, KS. Joel D. (Loretta) Mayfield, of Springfield, VA.; Lorrie’s kids and grandkids considered Joe a grandfather, as did other kids who “adopted” him.
Joe was preceded in death by his son Scott Mayfield on October 25, 1982; a brother, David Mayfield of Del Rio, TX, and his sister Martha Nancy Mayfield.
The family will receive friends from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM on Sunday, February 20th at Carlson’s Irvin-Parkview Funeral Home & Cremation in Manhattan, KS. A funeral service will be held at 10:00 AM on Monday, February 21st at the funeral home with Douglas Hamilton officiating. Burial, with military honors, will follow the service at the Kansas Veterans Cemetery, Manhattan.
The family requests any donations be directed to the North Central-Flint Hills Area Agency on Aging, and may be left in the care of Carlson’s Irvin-Parkview Funeral Home, 1317 W. Poyntz Ave., Manhattan, Kansas 66502
Online condolences may be left for the family through the funeral home website at www.irvinparkview.com