Jones, Charles Jordan

ENCAENIA, MAY, 1961
CHARLES JORDAN JONES
to be Doctor of Laws

"He was an all-round college man, both as student and as athlete. As President of the Debating Society and of the University Football Association, and as the Monthly's editor, he gave evidence of the trust and esteem in which he was held . . ." So runs the farewell notice on Charlie Jones in the Brunswickan's predecessor of 1910. It continues: "For four winters he took his life in his hands while tending goal for the hockey team, and when fully padded made
an imposing figure in front of the nets."

Fifty-one years later, and in no need of padding, an imposing figure he remains, a judge of our Supreme Court, who must now take other people's lives in those capable hands.

Above reproach and beyond satire, this is a man who has used to their full the good gifts that God gave him. A husband once bereaved but twice blessed, he is the father of two daughters and four sons all as worthy as himself. One-time mayor of his native Woodstock, among the keenest legal brains in New Brunswick, a pillar of his church, a counsellor and a stay to those in need, he hides behind a kindly if somewhat inscrutable exterior a wry wit and a mind serene.

The image is disturbed, but never marred, by two minor and pardonable flaws. He catches trout with worms, and this may possibly have cost him the wet-fly vote of Carleton County, for which he ran often but was never elected. But then, Carleton is a Tory stronghold, impregnable for three decades to all but one valiant Grit.

For his sound and solid excellence we do well to honour our alumnus. Unpretentious but steadfast, such men endure, and they are the very marrow of our Province.

From:
Cattley, Robert E.D. Honoris causa: the effervescences of a university orator. Fredericton: UNB Associated Alumnae, 1968.