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The MAPS chair
One item that was not mentioned by the members, but is unique, is the presidential chair.
Hugh Johnson had decided that a well crafted, elegant armchair would make an enjoyable and utilitarian gift for the outgoing presidents. And indeed, most presidents found this to be the case. So a chair was given, instead of a plaque, until 1992, when the Board, under the presidency of Dr. Juhala, decided to begin offering outgoing presidents either a chair or a more conventional plaque.
o Our handsome black chair of classic design, which my husband George received in 1983, sat in our office for many years and was the object of innumerable comments from patients and visitors. It now graces our entry hall at home and people still look at the little brass plate and ask questions when they walk in. Hugh Johnson also recommended a chair as the gift to the outgoing medical staff presidents at Rockford Memorial Hospital. The practice was adopted there as well, and still continues to this day.
 The logo of MAPS is a coat of arms designed in 1963 by British artist Sonia Patterson, wife of plastic surgeon Mr. Thomas Patterson. It has decorated the covers of the annual programs most years since its creation. The model enclosed in this history was the one used on the cover of the 1981 program, for the meeting in Milwaukee under the presidency of Dr. John Docktor.
To the casual observer, this logo is just an elegant drawing with more than a touch of class. The scholarly and inquisitive reader, however, might be captivated by the poetic symbolism of its main figures, several of them derived from British lore:
• A Medieval white bird which can tell whether the patient will live or die
• Golden corn as the symbol of the New World and the rich Midwestern soil
• A helmet in the center of the crest to add dignity, solidity and status to the drawing
• A field of red for the color of blood, divided by the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, symbolically the two majestic vessels that bring fertility and life to the central plains.
• A wheel, a healing flower and an American eagle, whose wing has been grafted by a plastic surgeon, complete the deign.
Sonia Patterson, a charming woman, researched these elements at the Bodleian Library, in Oxford, where she worked at that time. She had been commissioned to do this work by MAPS founder Hugh Johnson. In addition to its stylized design, Sonia was careful to incorporate symbolic elements of the two geographic locations which were closest to Dr. Johnson’s heart – England, where he received part of his training, and the Midwest, where he was born and raised, and where he lived his entire life. The Latin motto she chose so appropriately means, in translation, “wound to heal.”
At the 1979 meeting in Lincolnshire, Illinois, MAPS president Richard Schultz developed a new logo with an American Indian medicine man wearing a buffalo head. The membership, however, voted to retain the original heraldic logo, which from then on appeared on the cover of every annual program. Marty Robson had a MAPS seal made with the buffalo head symbol, and those members who received plaques that year are the only ones who own a souvenir of that unique one time logo. The same year, Fred Weissman from Detroit gave Dick Schultz a true buffalo head hat, which he still has.
Despite the elements reminiscent of the tastes and sensibilities of its founder, the classic logo is a true symbol of the attributes such an organization should have: vision, the power of healing, a fondness for beauty, a sense of history and a sense of self.
Many interesting cultural events took place as part of the social program, over the years. It would not be possible to mention them all because of lack of space and insufficient documentation. But of those events that respondents to be the questionnaire mentioned in any detail, or of those which we personally attended, several stand out. We chose just a few. Should any other special program in the past 34 years have escaped our notice, we apologize.
The parameters for highlighting a few of these experiences were:
1) The event was unique and was never repeated as such at any other time.
2) The artists/performers were members of MAPS
3) The performance or locality had strong symbolic ties to American culture, folklore or history.
In 1977 President Hal Hoops invited Bart Starr, then head coach and general manager of the Green Bay Packers, to speak at the Annual Dinner. Despite the fact that he was at the peak of his fame, his account of life as the head of a football team seemed hones, unembellished, and unaffected. This was the only time when a national sports personality was the featured speaker at a MAPS banquet.
In 1983, at The Abbey on Lake Geneva, President George Pap invited artist John Mosiman to present of his “Musical Paintings.” With a large easel positioned under stage lights, Mr. Mosiman painted two canvases, measuring four by six feet each, to the sounds of Fiddler on the Roof and The Grand Canyon Suite. He created these paintings in perfect synchronization with the music, his movements choreographed like a ballet. The precision of his strokes and the pleasing results made his performance unique.
Another departure from traditional entertainment at that meeting was a delightful concert by MAPS member Frank Pirruccello, who sang a medley of melodies accompanied at the piano by Jeanette Tanski, wife of MAPS member Eugene Tanski.
In 1987, President Elvin Zook of Springfield, Illinois, arranged for a one-woman show entitled The Letters of Mary Todd Lincoln. The performance consisted of a moving recitation of letters written by Mrs. Lincoln at six crucial times in her life. This program was special in that it was a quintessential distillation of American history.
In 1991, President William Webber of St. Louis invited as his special guests Walter and Memory Lewis, a husband and wife team of biologists who had undertaken to explore the Amazon River, despite the serious risks of disease and accident, in order to study the river’s fascinating and varied life forms.
In a letter dated January 13, 1995, Henry Onken sent us an update on this couple”
Walter and Memory are good friends of mine and are at the moment back in the upper Amazon Basin, for the seventh or eighth time. Their quest has been to look for medicinal plants and it has been very rewarding. In particular they have found an extract from one of the trees there, used by the natives to heal wounds. Laboratory tests by Tom Mustoe at Barnes (and later at Northwestern) have shown that this substance is more effective re-epithlializing wounds than any of the growth factors that have been touted for the past five years.
In 1992, President Curtis Juhala of Bismarck, North Dakota, treated his fellow MAPS members to a genuine rodeo and Western barbecue at a private ranch. As a strong symbol of the American West, this lively participatory experience became a reaffirmation of regional culture and tradition.
In 1994, President Reid Hansen of Peoria invited his MAPS guests to an evening at a riverboat casino on the Illinois River. This experience, too, was to many registrants a reminder of life on the great American waterways. It was also a throwback to the era of flappers, speakeasies and high roller gambling. In other words, it was a part of the history of America and the West as genuine as gold mining and homesteading.
Whatever anyone’s cultural inclinations might have been, these programs were learning experiences about the many facets of American and Midwestern life and lore.
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