Identity area
Type of entity
Person
Authorized form of name
Gauvin, Marshall J. (Marshall Jerome)
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
1881-1978
History
Marshall J. Gauvin was born near Moncton, New Brunswick in 1881. As a youth, he worked for eleven years for the Canadian National Railways as a carpenter and a cabinet maker. After years of self-education and preparation, he embarked on a career as a freelance public lecturer and educator. He lectured for fourteen years in Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, and Minneapolis. In 1926, he came to Winnipeg at the invitation of the One Big Union. He founded the local branch of the Winnipeg Rationalist Society and lectured weekly for fourteen years on rationalism and humanism in the Metropolitan, Garrick, and Dominion theatres. He became well known for his anti-religious sentiments and his weekly "anti-sermons" during the 1920s and 1930s. On retiring from the lecture platform in 1940, he worked for the duration of the war at MacDonald Aircraft Ltd. building and repairing planes for the Royal Canadian Air Force. Gauvin also wrote monthly articles for the Truth Seeker magazine until his health failed.