Berenice Wyer

Annie Berenice Crumb Wyer (October 5, 1873 – January 29, 1960) was an American pianist, composer, and lecturer. Wyer composed for both piano and organ, and wrote art song and works for violin. She collaborated with Ethan Allen Taussig in performances of spoken recitation accompanied by the piano.

Early life Annie Berenice Crumb was born in North Windham, Connecticut, on October 5, 1873, to Ellen V. (née Peck) and Desevignè Starks Crumb, but spent most of her childhood in Missouri.

In 1911 Wyer lectured before the Piano Club of Kirkwood and gave lecture recitals in St. Louis.

Wyer also composed for both piano and organ, as well as works for violin and for voice and piano. As of 1922, they were unpublished. Her solo piano compositions included "Concert Etude in D flat", the ballades "Chivalric Poem" and "Of Romance", and a Ballade in C-sharp minor that won the Prize for a Piano Composition in the 1916 St. Louis Art League Music Competition; organ works included "Etude in D minor", "Lento Assai", and "Meditation". Her works for violin included "Serenade", "Spring Fantasie", and "Twilight in the Garden".

Personal life and family Back home from her European tour, on June 11, 1901, Berenice Crumb married Dr. Harry Gage Wyer (June 27, 1870, Woburn, Massachusetts – January 15, 1961, Brookline, Massachusetts), the son of Edwin F. Wyer and Abbie A. Farrar, of Kirkwood, Missouri. Dr. Wyer was a general practitioner who first attended Phillips Academy, Andover and then graduated from Harvard Medical School (class 1896, A.B.; M.D. 1900), and was a resident at St. Louis's hospital. Crumb and Wyer met in Boston while attending college, and after finishing her musical course in Boston she returned to St. Louis to do concert work for two years. Wyer followed her and they married in St. Louis. They had three children, Beatrice (later Holder), born June 1902; Richard F., born November 1904 (Harvard, Class of 1928); and Harold E. (November 13, 1913 – December 21, 2013) (Bowdoin College, Class of 1937).

The Wyers were living in Brookline, Massachusetts, when Berenice died on January 29, 1960.

During World War I, Harry Gage Wyer became an Army Medical Corps Major as surgeon. After the war, Dr. Wyer went to work at William Beaumont Hospital, El Paso, Texas. Wyer was Professor of Military Science and Tactics at Harvard Medical School in 1927, giving courses on medicomilitary subjects for students who were candidates for the Medical Officers Reserve Corps. In 1941 Dr. Wyer was professor of Medico-Military Science at University of Vermont. In 1941, Maj. Harry Gage Wyer, who at 71 years old was one of the Army's oldest company commanders, received the praise of his superior officer for the "fine spirit which has fired American medical officers since the war independence." Wyer, who at the time was living in Brookline, returned to active duty for World War II when Army examiners reported him fit. He became a commander of Company B, declining an office assignment. He ended the war as Lieutenant Colonel.

The Harold and Faith Wyer Scholarship Fund, established in 2007 in support of scholarships to Bowdoin undergraduates, was founded by Judith L. Wyer (died 2013), in honor of her parents, Harold and Faith B. Wyer (1918–2009). Harold Wyer was a commercial broadcaster and while in the U.S. Navy during World War II was a member of the Naval Reserve Radio Division. Later he worked for General Electric Co. and Bethlehem Steel Co.