Marr, George Jack

ENCAENIA, MAY, 1952
GEORGE JACK MARR
to be Doctor of Laws

This other of New Brunswick's sons whom I would have you honour was born at St. Martin's, N.B., in what year I know not, for he has not told me. And even had he done so, I would, like Hamlet, "hold it not honesty to have it thus set down."

Though we are in the terrifying presence of an Inspector of Schools, let us (many of whom were his former victims) forget for once historical dates, and remember instead those traits which have made him respected and beloved.

He was educated in our local schools, at our Teachers' College and at this our University. He graduated with first-class Honours in English and Economics and carried off the Douglas Gold Medal. He holds an M.A. from his Alma Mater and from Toronto. He served overseas with the Royal Canadian Artillery, and his son graduated with the class of '43.

Like many of our best men, he taught in his earlier years in the schools of his native province. But the work which was to endear him to a generation of pupils and parents he did solidly, shrewdly and with a kindly patience as "Inspector Marr." Of his thirty-eight years in the service of provincial education, twenty-nine have been spent as
Inspector and, more recently as Superintendent, for the schools of Saint John County.

He is senior and among the most valued counsellors of the Provincial Department of Education, and serving on the Education Commission of 1931 he has played a leading part in the far-reaching revision of the School curriculum, the final fruits of which we have yet to pluck and (it is our sanguine hope) to relish.

To honour a tried and trusted educationalist and to draw yet closer the vital bond between the Provincial University, the Provincial Department of Education and the Provincial Schools, I present to you Jack Marr for the Honorary degree of Doctor of Laws.

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