Weir Essay Front Page CanonsOfConstruction Law Students Web Publication Univ. Alberta |
John Alexander Weir K.C., B.A., LL.B.
John A. Weir - the manHe was loved and respected. Those who were fortunate enough to have kept closer company were often amused by his wit, bemused by the profundity of his knowledge, and moved by his wisdom. In the summer of 1993, a letter to the editor of New Trail, a University of Alberta Alumni Association communique; the retired Neil A. Davidson, Q.C. wrote his recollection of a sample of Dean Weir's sense of humour. In discussing "domestic relation", his favourite line was "And that, gentlemen, is adultery, pure and simple - well, simple anyway." John A. Weir was undoubtedly a driven man. His zeal for law as the Dean of the Faculty of Law from 1926 to the day of his untimely death was comparable only to his devotion to family. His passion for the continued growth of the faculty was not only an inspiration to those with whom he worked but is an encouragement for those who are at the beginning of the journey into a law career. He must have decided consciously to race up the steep gradient of life's path. From this, future students can draw strength. It was noted that he did not gripe about the intolerable enormity of his task yet he sought to conquer it with his physical and spiritual all. Imagine, when he passed away, Canada was rationing tea and coffee. Can any academic think of a worst fate?
This essay was originally submitted to the John A. Weir Memorial Scholarship Committee, at the University of Alberta, Law School in 2001 by Mona Chan, the publisher of this web magazine. and is republished here in the CanonsOfConstruction.com web site as war is being waged in Iraq, in March 2003. Headlines on the Web and in newspapers today in 2003 reminds us of the 1942 Second World War headlines on the day of Dean Weir's death in 1942. |