J. Marvin McGuire of Richardson, Texas, a native of Celeste, Hunt County, is retiring after twenty-eight years of service as bailiff for the Dallas County Grand Jury. McGuire has worked with Judge J. Henry King, judge of Criminal District Count No. 2, beginning with the election of the judge in 1937.
In a surprise ceremony on Friday, December 18, planned and executed by Warren J. Harding, Dallas County treasurer and president of the National Association of County Treasurers, McGuire was honored with the attendance of office personnel and county office holders at a cake and coffee hour. He was interviewed by representatives of "The Dallas Morning News" and "The Dallas Times Herald" and subsequently was seen in appearance on both TV channels' news reports.
Mr. Harding states, "I have only the highest of praise for Mr. McGuire as man of honesty and integrity. He is a living symbol of the 'Tall Texan,' six-foot-one, two hundred pounds, who thinks before he speaks, but speaks with authority. 'Mr. Mac' is a kind, soft-spoken gentleman, and I have never known him to utter a word of profanity in my fifteen years of friendship. He is 'A-salt-of-the-earth' type man on whom I have leaned heavily for advice and guidance. We will greatly miss Mr. McGuire's presence at the courthouse," Harding concluded.
From his interviews with newsmen, McGuire was described as shepherding witnesses before the Grand Jury for twenty-eight years. McGuire stated, "I have learned in watching Grand Juries at work, that every thing has two sides, sometimes three."
The respected bailiff noted that one of the great improvements he has seen in the last twenty-eight years "had been in the written reports police make now about crime. Proper reports, call 'beef sheets,' have resulted in true bills in about sixty percent of cases, the reverse custom in 1937."
James Marvin McGuire, 76, son of pioneer parents, the late Mr. and Mrs. W. J. McGuire, grew up on a family farm west of Celeste, a farm home still occupied by a younger brother, C. C. McGuire.
A graduate of Celeste High School in 1907, Marvin taught school for a number of years on a certificate secured by taking state examinations. His first school was Rainbow, a school midway between Celeste and Hickory Creek. After a year of teaching a Salem and a year at Southwestern University, Georgetown, McGuire taught in the upper grammar grades in Celeste School, then tried a traveling job for awhile. Other schools were Mahoney in Hopkins County, Kingston in Hunt County, Van Alstyne in Grayson County, and ended his teaching career in Richardson.
A pupil in Richardson, Albert Click, now of Greenville, is a retired US Army chaplain and recently retired from active ministry as pastor of the Celeste Methodist Church for eleven years. Mrs. George McGee, Celeste, was another pupil of Marvin's, also, at Kingston.
McGuire farmed at Lane, west of Celeste, for a period and completed a school term at Pike in 1918, moving to Richardson late that year. In 1922, he and Rita Mae Campbell of Richardson were married and they engaged in farming there until his work in the court circles began in 1937.
Activities of the couple in Richardson center around the work of First Methodist Church in their hometown, in some civic organizations, and Mrs. McGuire's association with a real estate company.
Marvin and Rita McGuire have one daughter, Marilyn, Mrs. Robert Keagy. The Keagys live in Pampa, Texas, and have four children, the McGuire grandchildren, who are too far away for frequent visits, but, "Use the telephone extensively to keep grandparents in touch" according to Marvin.
An unusual angle on his new status in life was stated as McGuire visited his sister, Mrs. Jess Gibson, in Celeste. He said he now belonged to the "Honey Dew Club." Explained, it is "Honey do this; Honey, do that."
The couple lives at 523 East Spring Valley in Richardson.
(January 1, 1965, The Celeste Courier)
Submitted by Sarah Swindell
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