George was born in Winona, Ohio on March 5, 1933 to Arthur and Laura Oliphant who were Quakers, as were George’s grandparents. He graduated from Olney Friends Boarding School in Barnesville, Ohio in 1951 and attended Earlham College, working his way through college with a job at a funeral home. At Earlham, he met Ernestine (Ernie) Reid and they married in 1955. After college, George found an individual expression of the Religious Society of Friends’ Peace Testimony by electing to do alternative service working at a Goodwill refurbishing plant.
His father’s health drew George’s parents to the Sedona area of Arizona where his mother worked as a maid at the Crescent Moon Ranch and his father worked in the fields. George and his wife so enjoyed coming out to Arizona to visit his parents that they moved to Arizona in 1965.
George first managed a few Yellow Front stores, a sporting goods chain, after he moved to Phoenix. He was employed at Penn Mutual Insurance as a computer specialist and for twenty-eight years as a tax preparer. He was President, Vice President and Education Chairman of the Arizona branch of the National Association of Tax Preparers from 1999 – 2007.
Fond of Arizona, George traveled all around the state to see its sights. He often would jump into his car for a daytrip to some place or other in Arizona. He also loved German Shepherds whom he thought of as special kind of folks.
George has long been part of the Phoenix Friends community. We all will miss him, his steady presence, the twinkle in his eye as he quietly let out one of his many humorous comments, and, during Fellowship after rise of meeting, his ready handshake accompanied by his very earnest “How are you?” or “How have you been?”