Bill Marr is one of Langley’s true civic treasures.
He marked his 95th birthday on Thursday with a large gathering at Adrian’s at the Airport — a fitting place, given his 43 years as a pilot and continued interest in aviation.
But his knowledge of Langley’s early days is equally as impressive. Several years ago, The Times profiled him in one of our Sideroads magazines, and he told us and showed us his map of Fort Langley in the 1920s and 1930s, showing every building he remembered when he was growing up there.
Bill is the son of pioneer Langley doctor Dr. Benjamin Marr. He was born in England at the height of the First World War, which his father served in.
In fact, he was born on the 4th of July, but his dad didn’t want that to be the case, so ensured that the date on the birth certificate be July 5.
I don’t know the reasons — but it likely has to do with Dr. Marr’s loyalty to Canada and Great Britain, and was also likely coloured by the fact that Canadian troops were in their fourth year of taking part in the most brutal war any Canadian ever fought in — and at the time of Bill’s birth, the Americans were still on the sidelines.
Bill grew up in Fort Langley when his father returned from the war. He enlisted in the Canadian Army just after Hitler invaded Poland,on Sept. 3, 1939 — a week before Canada formally declared war.
In 1940, he switched over to the Royal Canadian Air Force and that began his love for flying. After the war, he joined Trans-Canada Air Lines (later Air Canada) and remained as a senior pilot until retiring at 60 in 1977.
He moved back to Langley after retirement and has been very involved in the community ever since. His sharp mind keeps him thinking about a wide variety of topics and he regularly submits letters to the editor, which we are happy to publish.
More than 70 people came to honour him. The conversation at our table got me thinking about Bill’s generation, which former NBC news anchor Tom Brokaw has quite properly labelled “the greatest generation.”
They deserve that label because these young men and women who grew up in the 1930s and really matured in the crucible of war came back to make our communities and our country a much better place.
As several people at our table said, they were ready to take risks — they’d already risked their lives, again and again. Any risk here wasn’t worth shying away from.
One of my table mates was Barry Marsden, the owner and chair of Conair Aviation, a large (1,000 employees) firm based in Abbotsford. He commented how Art Seller, the founder of Skyway Aviation, had been in a prisoner of war camp during the war and was ready to take significant risks to begin a flying-based business at the Langley Airport.
Marsden eventually bought part of that business from Seller, and it became Conair, which is known worldwide for its expertise in fighting forest fires from the air.
The greatest generation did their best to make our world a better place. They weren’t perfect — no generation is — but if it wasn’t for the dreams they had and worked to achieve, our world would be a much poorer place.
