Alvin J. Schexnider is a board governance consultant at Schexnider and Associates, LLC. Following retirement from an academic career that spanned more than four decades and included leading three institutions of higher education, he turned his attention to genealogy in order to learn more about his family history. Mayfield and Schexnider: Portrait of a Family is the result of his research.

This book traces its origins to a letter written to Schexnider by his father’s eldest sister in 1978. He kept the letter through several career moves and occasionally followed up on clues the letter provided. However, it wasn’t until November 2018 shortly after the death of his youngest brother that he buckled down and got serious about this important task. His genealogy work led him to family links in Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, California, Missouri, Ohio and Connecticut.