Myers, Carol

Dwight A. Myers was born November 24, 1931 in Jamestown, NY to a Baptist minister and his wife. The Myers family resided in New York state until 1939 when they moved to California. Dwight began his university education at the University of Redlands in Redlands, CA where he meet Carol, a 1946 graduate of Dawson High School in Dawson, NM, and his future wife. Carol, a few years ahead of Dwight in her education, accepted a job teaching music in Barstow and Dwight transferred to Pasadena City College to continue his degree.

In 1952, Dwight joined the Air Force and the Myers moved to Georgia where he was stationed. Soon after, their first child Robert was born in 1953. The family was then transferred to Kirtland Air Force base in Albuquerque, NM. Their second child, Debbie was born in 1955 and their third, Jim, in 1957.

After his honorable discharge from the Air Force, Dwight pursued a degree in history at the University of New Mexico, graduating in 1959. While a student, he worked in the university bookstore. Upon graduation, he was offered a sales position with the Prentice Hall publishing company. His first sales territory included New Mexico but he was soon promoted to the head office in New York. The family moved to New York where they spent the next 10 years. Dwight then requested to be demoted so he could return to New Mexico. His return to the Southwest would not take him off the national publishing scene as he served as regional manager of the west, the south and even as interim national sales manager. Simon & Schuster, which purchased Prentice-Hall, created the Dwight A. Myers Excellence in Regional Publishing Award honoring small presses in the Rocky Mountain West.

In 1970, Carol and Dwight founded the New Mexico Book League. The league's publication Book Talk was published until 2001.

Dwight retired in 1993, but found time to work part-time in the Page One Bookstore. He died September 16, 1995.

From the guide to the Carol and Dwight Myers Papers, 1920-2000, (New Mexico State University. Archives and Special Collections Department.)