Eleanor Mayo

Who was Eleanor Mayo?

Eleanor Mayo was an American novelist of the mid twentieth century. She lived most of her life on Mount Desert Island, Maine. She was raised in Southwest Harbor, Maine. She was the life companion of the well known Maine novelist Ruth Moore. Mayo was introduced to Moore in the summer of 1940 by the latter's sister who had been Mayo's high school teacher. Mayo accompanied Moore on her return to California. The two soon moved to New York where they remained until returning permanently to Maine in 1947. Mayo published five novels during her life. Mayos's novel Turn Home was made into the 1950 film Tarnished.

Mayo was active in local politics holding several elected positions in Tremont, Maine. She was the first female selectman elected in Tremont, and later served many years as the town's tax assessor. Ruth Moore wrote of the stir caused by Mayo's election: "A great flurry it got in all the papers and on the radio, and all the old diehards and shellbacks in town, who think 'wimmen's fit fa one thing and that's all, by God,' are standing on their heads and spinning."