Harry Campbell Vaiden III

1941 - 2023

Harry Campbell Vaiden III, beloved husband of Carole Burgamy Harison Vaiden and a proud southern gentleman died January 13, 2023, at Augusta University Medical Center surrounded by family he loved. He was 81 years old. Mr. Vaiden was a lifelong resident of Augusta, banker, and civic leader.

The funeral service will be held at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Augusta at 1:00 P.M. on Friday, January 20, 2023. Interment will be private in Westover Memorial Park with family only prior to the service. The family will receive friends following the service in the parish hall.

He was born January 19, 1941, in Augusta, Georgia to Eleanor Hogeland Rucker and H. Campbell Vaiden junior, both of whom preceded him in death. Mr. Vaiden was always proud that he shared the same birth date as Robert E. Lee.

Mr. Vaiden began his banking career in 1964 with the Georgia Railroad Bank & Trust Company where he was known as the doctors' banker. He was known widely for assisting young medical doctors and dentists with the start up capital for their practices. For many years he taught a course to graduating dental students at the Dental School in Augusta on financing a dental practice. He retired in 2006 from Georgia Bank & Trust Company where he was a Senior Vice President and a founding officer of that bank in 1989.

Mr. Vaiden was a former director of the Augusta Red Cross, Augusta Training Shop for the Handicapped, and the Augusta Genealogical Society of which he was a founding charter member. He was former president of the Augusta Symphony League, treasurer of the East Central Georgia Emergency Medical Council, treasurer and board member of the Augusta-Richmond County Historical Society, director and member of executive committee of the Family Practice Foundation at the Medical College of Georgia. Other memberships include the Augusta Country Club, Beech Island Agricultural Club, Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, Historic Augusta and Augusta-Richmond County Historical Society. He was a graduate of the first class of Leadership Augusta in 1980 and a former member of the Torch Club of Augusta, the Pinnacle Club and West Lake Country Club. He was a member of the Church of the Good Shepherd where he served as an usher and verger.

Mr. Vaiden was widely known as an accomplished julepist, having acquired his knowledge for rearing a proper mint julep from the late Joseph B. Cumming of Augusta. Annually Historic Augusta and the Augusta Training Shop harvested his "Kentucky Colonel" mint for many years for their Cotton Ball and Derby Day parties respectively of which the latter event was a fundraiser suggested by Mr. Vaiden in 2000. On one occasion in 1987, Mr. Vaiden was contacted by an insurance executive to fly to his home office in Seattle to train seven bartenders on the art of rearing a southern mint julep for an "Old South Party" the company was hosting. Mr. Vaiden often referred to the mint julep as the "Queen mother of all the infusions." He enjoyed for many years serving his mint julep on Saturday afternoon of Masters Week at his annual Mint Julep Party. He was proud that he attended 71 consecutive Masters Tournaments from 1947 to 2017 before he became unable to walk the course.

Mr. Vaiden had a phenomenal memory and recall for local history and old Augusta families and their relationships with many accompanying stories.

One of his first loves was gardening, especially his roses. He enjoyed hunting, fishing, and travelling having hunted a wild boar in Hawaii, sheep in eastern Oregon and duck in Mississippi and Maine. And the opening of dove season was always a special event.

Mr. Vaiden was a graduate of the Academy of Richmond County in 1959, Emory University in 1964, and the Banking School of the South at Louisiana State University in 1983. He also attended the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia.
Mr. Vaiden earned all three certificates, Basic, Standard, and Advance from the American Institute of Banking. The caption under his photograph in the 1959 ARC annual read "…a true gentleman, such as one seldom sees."

Mr. Vaiden is survived by, in addition to his wife, a son John H. Vaiden (Lynne), a daughter Ruth T. Vaiden, sons Allen S. Harison (Gail) and Bates M. Harison (Heather), grandsons Thomas J. Vaiden (Ashlee), Jacob K. Vaiden (Miriam), granddaughters Campbell Elizabeth Harison, Fenwick Abigail Harison and Mary Sawyer Harison, and a great grandson Gunner H. Vaiden. He is also survived by a sister Eleanor (Ellie) Vaiden Silman (Andy), a sister-in-law Beth Vaiden, and numerous nephews and nieces. His brother B. Rucker Vaiden predeceased him.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Church of the Good Shepherd, 2230 Walton Way, Augusta, GA 30904.

Honorary pallbearers will be officers and retired officers of Georgia Bank & Trust and Georgia Railroad Bank & Trust Company.

Thomas Poteet & Son Funeral Directors, 214 Davis Rd., Augusta, GA 30907,
(706) 364-8484. Please sign the guestbook at www.thomaspoteet.com