Central High School - Blackhawk Yearbook (Davenport, IA)

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There is another element that he would have me point out to you, and that is the aim must he high, and above all, unselfish. A man with his talents and intelligence surveying the field of life’s endeavor could have chosen a work that would have brought large financial return. His abilities and persistent effort would have brought him marked success in the business world. Selfish desire, however, played no part in his selection of an aim. He desired to serve youth in an underpaid profession and his reward is great. From far and wide men and women whose lives have been influenced by him in this place now rise up to bear their testimony to his worth. A whole com' munity feels keenly a sense of irreparable loss in his passing. It is not always so. The false standards of success sometimes set up by a selfish world do not result in such great affection and universal love. Many a man who from the selfish standpoint has made a great “success” goes down to his grave unloved. But to the one who unselfishly follows a high ideal of service there arises a monument of peculiar worth, fashioned not from cold marble or bronze, but from the hearts of men and women who profited by loving service and who loved in return. Let his life tell us then that this aim must lx high and unselfish if we would achieve life's greatest purpose. We must add a word about the character of persistency. It could not be that there were no discouragements in his life, but he did not allow discouragement to divert his persistent effort in accomplishing his task. Men and women are so apt to give way to discouragement and reverses—to allow life to slip along in the paths where no re sistencc is met. His life would tell us to beware of such cowardice. His example would encourage us to keep at the task in the face of any apparent failure until triumph comes to crown our persistent endeavor. Let us, in his memory, resolve for ourselves a greater courage and a more untiring effort. Finally his life would tell us that if our aim is high and we labor persistently for its accomplishment that death comes only as the reward of rest for work well done. We cannot hx»k upon the development of character and years of devoted service to the great cause of youth as wasted effort. It is not something that has gone past in the great stream of energy that moves from past to future. It has become a part of the fabric of our present lives. We, in turn, at the close of our life's evening will go on to rest. How we go depends entirely upon how we have lived. There is no prepara- tion for that rest except by means of the labor of the day. Sounding clear from the record of his life comes this reassurance. He entered the life to come as he lived here -confidently, peacefully, and full of purpose. It can be no better expressed than in the words of one who caught a great vision (and when men catch great visions we call it poetry) who said: So live, that when thy summons comes to join The innumerable caravan that moves To the pale realms of shade, where each shall tal(e His chamber in the silent halls of death: Thou go, not lil(e the quarry slave at night, Scourged to his dungeon; but sustained and soothed By an unfaltering trust approach thy grave Lil{e one who wraps the draperies of his couch about him, And lies douw to pleasant dreams.

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MEMORIAL ADDRESS By Dean Philbrook of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral with Introduction by Lester E. Keller High School Auditorium, December 9, 1932 Wc arc assembled as a school, students and faculty, with our superintendent and members of the Board of Education to pay respect and reverence ;o the memory of our departed leader and teacher. It is fitting that wc thus pause a .id lay aside our daily tasks for such a purpose. If wc could project our memories and imaginations back over the twenty' five years of leadership of Mr. Marshall in the Davenport High School and could sec the hundreds of men and women from everywhere and in every walk of life who were members of one of the many classes that have been graduated under his direction, we would see them pause as we do now to pay reverence to his memory. Our loss is great. His reward is greater. It is multiplied in our lives and in the lives of countless others who came in contact with his personality and whose characters were made better under his influence. But our attempts to express our feelings arc but vain efforts. It is well, therefore, that wc turn to one of our friends, and one who knew Mr. Marshall well, to direct our thoughts in this hour. Such a friend is Dean Philbrook! We have gathered in this assembly to pay corporate affection and respect to the memory of George Edward Marshall, whose personality and labors have so tremendous' ly moulded and influenced this great institution through so long a period of years. It would be folly for me to attempt to eulogize that life to you who knew him so well and were so intimately associated with him in the activities of this school. Such a life as his is its own eulogy, and I am content to leave locked in the tender memories of each, the experiences that have been yours because of your association with him. In his modesty and lack of sclf'sceking he would desire no encomiums of praise from the lips of men, and we arc content to leave the “well done” to the God Who secs things as they arc. It is not amiss, however, upon this occasion, to point out how that life of teaching has crystallized certain great principles. We can sec these truths because they were made incarnate in him. As he taught in his life, he would not think it amiss if wc reviewed these truths upon the occasion of his death. The first thing that he would have us remember is that every life must have an aim. All through the many years that he has guided this great school he has been try' ing to emphasize that primary truth. He knew well that in life it is only too possible to “aim at nothing and hit it.” Not only by precept did he teach this principle, but chiefly by example. Those that were close to him have told me that his one aim in life was to be the principal of a good high school. The great organization that he has built here, the splendid spirit that it bears and the high standard that it sets testify completely to the attainment of that ambition. As his every effort was bent to the fub filment of his life's aim, shall wc not in his memory determine again to direct every intelligent effort of ours to real accomplishment? V

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