In 1962, at the conclusion of his term as President, Dr. J. Grafton Love presented to the Society a handsome gavel to be used by each succeeding President of the Society. It was carved by Mr. Walt Portermain, a local woodcarver in Rochester, from a black walnut spindle taken from the staircase of the home of Dr. William Worrall Mayo built in 1875. The house was razed in 1942, but the older daughter of Dr. Will Mayo, Mrs. D.C. Balfour, Sr., had saved the staircase from which this gavel was made.

*Jour Neurosurgery Vol xix #9, 1962 pp116