Walter Dean Myers - Personal Life

Personal Life

Myers was born in Martinsburg, West Virginia. When his mother died while giving birth to his little sister, Myers was given over as a child to Florence Dean, who was the first wife of George Myers (Walter's biological father), who raised him in Harlem, New York. Myers later took on "Dean" as his middle name in honor of his foster parents Florence and Herbert. Herbert was an African American man and his wife was a part German and part Native American woman who taught English at the local high school. As a child, Myers's life centered around the neighborhood and the church. The neighborhood protected him and the church guided him. Walter was smart, but didn't do that well in school. Suffering with a speech impediment, he cultivated a habit of writing poetry and short stories and acquired an early love of reading. Myers attended Public School 125 on Lasalle Street before dropping out of high school (although Stuyvesant High now claims him as a graduate) and joined the army on his 17th birthday. Walter wrote well in high school and one of his teachers recognized this; she also suspected he was going to drop out. She advised him to keep on writing no matter what happened. He didn't exactly understand what that meant but years later, while working on a construction job in New York, he remembered her words. Myers would write at night, soon writing about his difficult teenage years. When asked what he valued most, he replied, "My books. They were my only real friends growing up."

Myers lives in Jersey City, New Jersey with his family. His family includes his wife and his son, author and illustrator Christopher Myers