Shuford, George Adams

5 Sept. 1895–8 Dec. 1962

George Adams Shuford, lawyer, congressman, and judge, was born in Asheville, the son of George A. and Julia E. Dean Shuford. A student at The University of North Carolina from 1913 to 1915, he received a law degree from the University of Georgia in 1917 and in the same year was licensed to practice in Georgia. Following officer's training camp, he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 119th Infantry, 30th Division, and saw service in France. He was released in 1919 with the rank of first lieutenant.

Licensed in North Carolina in 1920, Shuford opened a law practice in Asheville. He represented Buncombe County in the General Assembly sessions of 1945 and 1947. In the fall of 1947 he was appointed a superior court judge and served until July 1949. Elected to Congress in 1952, he remained on Capitol Hill until January 1959. In Congress he served on committees concerned with veterans' affairs, the Department of the Interior, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the Blue Ridge Parkway, and the Cherokee Indians. Following the Democratic primary, which he won in May 1958, Shuford withdrew as a candidate for a fourth term because of a stroke suffered six days before the primary. There was considerable concern among journalists that the seriousness of the congressman's condition had not been promptly revealed. After completing his term in Congress, he resumed a restricted law practice in Asheville.

Shuford was married in 1932 to Daphne Brown of Asheville, and they were the parents of Sydney Herbert, Elizabeth Dean, and Fuller Adams. He died at his home, and funeral services were conducted at Trinity Episcopal Church, where he had been a member and former warden and vestryman.