Lucille Cairns George

GEORGE, LUCILLE CAIRNS

Lucille Cairns George, 96, died August 18, 2012, at her home in Gainesville surrounded by her family.

Mrs. George's antecedents were among Gainesville's earliest residents. Great-grandfather Dr. Stephen F. Harvard came from Thomasville, Georgia in 1855, ten years after Florida was granted statehood. His entire family save one perished in the yellow fever epidemic of 1871. Grandfather Charles Axson Colclough came from Sumter County, S.C. in 1875 and became a prominent businessman, planter and civic leader. It was in his house at University Ave. and N.W. 1st Street (now gone) that Mrs. George was born May 12, 1916. The present-day Colclough Hill neighborhood in south Gainesville is the site of Mr. Colclough's former planting interests. He was a founding member of Holy Trinity Episcopal Church and the Gainesville Country Club. There are several stained glass windows in Holy Trinity given by the family, including one restored remnant that survived the fire of 1991.

Mrs. George's parents were George Holloway Cairns and Lucile Colclough Cairns. Mr. Cairns, a native of Oxford, Mississippi, was Gainesville's first City Engineer and first City Manager. He installed the brick streets that you still see today in downtown Gainesville, and they were recognized nationally as among the best of their kind at that time. Mr. Cairns' father, Dr. George Adams Cairns, had taught during the mid-1850's at the East Florida State Seminary in Ocala, which was the forerunner of the University of Florida.

Mrs. George attended Gainesville schools and graduated in 1937 from Agnes Scott College in Atlanta, where her mother had preceded her and her daughter Beverly would later succeed her. She then studied at the University of Florida College of Law, receiving her law degree in 1940. After graduation, Mrs. George was employed in the Trust Department of the Atlantic National Bank of Jacksonville and clerked for Circuit Judge John A. Murphree. She was invited to clerk for Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice H.L. Sebring but declined because of her impending wedding. In 1942 she married Theodore S. George, a native of Pennsylvania who was on the faculty of the Mathematics Dept at the University of Florida. Her husband's career then required them to move out of state for several years to Washington D.C., Philadelphia, and Patrick Air Force Base (Florida). They returned to Gainesville in 1956 when he became Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University. In 1969-70, they moved to Honolulu where Dr. George served as Scientific Advisor to the U. S. Commander-in-Chief-Pacific, who at that time was Admiral John McCain, father of the present-day Senator.

Mrs. George was well-known in Gainesville for her community activities and sociability, serving on many boards and in elected offices: Junior League of Gainesville (Board member 1961-62); Junior League of Greater Sustainers (President 1971-72); Spring Pilgrimmage (Chair 1985); University of Florida Women's Club (President 1963-64); Florida Museum of Natural History Associates (Board 1985-89); University of Florida Art Gallery Guild (Board 1980-84); Gainesville Garden Club (Board 1987-90); Historic Gainesville, Inc. (Board 1990-95); Thomas Center Associates (Board 1987-90, 1996-2002); Evergreen Cemetery Assoc. (President 1988-89 and Director Emerita); First Presbyterian Church (Session 1996-99). She was a member of the Skippers social club and Gainesville Country Club.

At First Presbyterian Church of Gainesville, she served on the Session Personnel Committee and Property Committee, and she was, at the time of her death, the member of longest-standing, having been born into the church in 1916, where her father was Director of the Sunday Schools.

In 2002, Mrs. George was honored by the Florida Supreme Court in a special ceremonial session as one of Florida's First 150 Women Lawyers. A plaque with the engraved names was hung in the Supreme Court Chambers.

Mrs. George loved to travel and had many international trips with her husband during his various consulting sojourns and later with friends from Gainesville and with her children, including a trip to Russia at age 85. She was "a happy person," as she once described her father, and loved people. She was very attached to her hometown of Gainesville and had many many friends, to whom she was loyal and devoted. The 1871 epitaph in Evergreen Cemetery for her great-grandmother, Latitia Harvard, could as well be said of her:

She was a loving wife, a devoted mother,

And a Friend to All

Mrs. George is survived by daughter Courtney Hyers (Kemper) of Manakin-Sabot, Virginia, daughter Beverly George of Gainesville, Son Theodore George of Atlanta, and grand-daughter Courtney Cairns George of Gainesville. During her last years, Mrs. George was assisted by many fine caregivers, and the family would like to make special mention of Imelda De Leon and Glenda Mattair for their kind devotion over many years. In lieu of flowers, gifts may be made to First Presbyterian Church of Gainesville, where a Memorial Service will be held on August 23, 2012, at 11 AM. MILAM FUNERAL AND CREMATION SERVICES 311 S. Main Street Gainesville, FL 32601 (352) 376-5361.