ECU launches Founders Day activities
click here for full schedule
As East Carolina University launched its 99th anniversary celebration, the region’s leaders gathered to honor the life of its founder and father, Gov. Thomas Jordan Jarvis.
Members of the Greenville-Pitt County Chamber of Commerce Leadership Institute were among those who attended the graveside ceremony March 8 that paid homage to Jarvis.
“It is befitting our theme for this year’s Founders Week celebration, ‘A Legacy of Leadership’ to be discussing someone who is a model of leadership – at every level,” said State Rep. Edith Warren, one of four speakers who remarked upon Jarvis’ commitment to service and leadership.
During his long career, Jarvis, born in 1836, lived a life of service, starting out as a schoolteacher, a serviceman, and state representative from Tyrell County. He rose through the ranks to become speaker of the N.C. House of Representatives, and eventually served as lieutenant governor, governor, and ambassador to Brazil. In 1888, he moved to Greenville to practice law. Toward the end of his long career, Jarvis convinced the North Carolina assembly to approve the construction of a teacher training school in eastern North Carolina. They passed the measure on March 8, 1907 and two years later in October 1909, Jarvis helped to break ground for the Eastern Carolina Teachers Training School.
Pat Dunn, a semi-retired ECU professor and member of the Greenville City Council, said that even though he became involved in many aspects of civic life, his roots as an educator never left him.
“His interest in education was a part of who he was from the very beginning,” Dunn said. “Today, we celebrate this work of love, and this man whose life devoted to the public good embodied the motto of East Carolina – ‘To Serve.’”
David Goehring, co-pastor at Jarvis United Methodist Church in Greenville, reflected upon the leader for which the church is named.
“We see his handprint everywhere, in Greenville, Pitt County and beyond,” Goehring said. “He was faithful and he was fruitful.”
Austin Bunch, chief of staff for ECU Chancellor Steve Ballard invited the crowd of approximately 50 to reflect upon the other founding supporters of East Carolina University, Sen. James Lawson Fleming, Pitt County Schools Superintendent William Henry Ragsdale and The Daily Reflector publisher, David Jordan Whichard, all of who rest in Cherry Hill Cemetery.
“We can all take a lesson from the leadership these local citizens provided,” Bunch said. “We stand here today as recipients of their bravery, forward-thinking and vigilance in seeing to it that a need was met for this region -- that of training teachers.”
In the past 99 years, Bunch said the founders’ initial dream has been realized many times over and that efforts to build upon that dream will continue.
“This community, this region, this state and nation have reaped the benefits of their leadership in ways no one ever imagined,” he said. “And so it is with leadership, and that is why it is so important for us to take these few moments to reflect on this leader, this community, and this institution.”
Click here for the Founders Day schedule
