Bridgewater State University - Alpha Yearbook (Bridgewater, MA)

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HON. GEORGE H. MARTIN, LITT. D

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16 NORMAL OFFERING Ellanzultg Nairn. S we look back through the seventy-seventh year of our school's progress, we notice changes in the faculty that mean a great deal to us. We have both lost and gained. Every one knows that too frequent change in a faculty is bad, in that it is liable to weaken the unity and decrease the efliciency of that body, but it is good to have some changes, for that means new thoughts and ideas, different views to be blended with the old ones, giving us broader and more advanced views. ' Among the missing faces which many graduating classes have loved in the past are those of Miss Clara C. Prince, who has retired, Miss Florence I. Davis, who has been granted a year's leave of absence, to regain her health, Miss Broughton, who is studying in Teachers' Col- lege, Columbia University, and, Miss Dorothea Davis, who has left us to accept a position as supervisor of drawing in Haverhill. It is, also, with deep regret that we understand this is to be Mr. Kirmayer's last year as our teacher. For forty-seven years he has been an object les- son in affectionate loyalty to the school and in faithful and inspiring service. Those to whom we extend a hearty welcome are Miss Harriet Farn- ham, who has taken Miss Prince's place, Miss Breta Childs, who has taken Miss Florence Davis's, Miss Pinnick, who has taken Miss Brough- ton's, and, Mr. Corley, who teaches wood-work. May we help our future pupils as our faculty have helped us. R. S. B., '18.

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18 NORMAL OFFERING 151111. Chvnrgr 19. Martin, illitt. B. EORGE HENRY MARTIN was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, August 16, 18413 died in that city March 25, 1917. After gradu- ating from the Bridgewater Normal School, he taught a grammar school for a time. In 1864 he returned to Bridgewater as a teacher and remained here as first assistant for eighteen years. The contact with his vigorous intellect was a stimulus to the hundreds of young men and women who were under his instruction during those years. While teaching here he did much work in Teachers' Institutes, work of such high quality that in 1882 he was appointed an Agent of the Board of Education. In that capacity he made thousands of visits to schools in all parts of the State. Through his keen insight and his sympathetic appreciation he gained a first-hand knowledge of actual conditions in the schools, and he worked assiduously for their improve- ment. ' In 1892, in the full maturity of his splendid powers, he became a Supervisor of Schools in Boston and for twelve years he gave the schools of that city the fruits of his wide experience. In 1904 he was appointed Secretary of the State Board of Education, that office being then the highest position in the educational system of the State. It was universally recognized by those who knew him that, through his native ability, his knowledge of educational history, his study of edu- cational philosophy, his observation of educational practices, and his addresses and writings on educational subjects, he was in fact, as well as in name, foremost among the leaders in public education in Massa- chusetts. A clear thinker, a forceful speaker, a ready writer, a wise counsel- lor, an inspiring teacher, a genial friend, he has left a lasting impress upon those whose privilege it was to feel his influence. Two years ago he wrote the historical address for the seventy-iifthi anniversary of this school. Even then his health was so frail that he was unable to be present, but his paper was read by one whom he had selected for that purpose. It is probable that the preparation of this address was his last important public service. Surely he would have wished it so: that the school to which he had given more of his life than to any other cause, and to which he had remained intensely loyal through all the years since he left it, should be the subject of the last eiort of his mind, and hand, and heart. ' W. D. J.