George followed the footsteps of his grandfather J. G. Willard,
and his father George Franklin Baynton, who had edited and published The
Lloydminster Times for almost half a century. By the age of 11 George was
putting in a full work week as a printer's devil at the Times, operating
typesetting equipment and running numerous printing presses, large and small. As
offset printing had not yet been invented, hot lead was the medium and George
didn't escape the numerous burns, fumes, and other deleterious consequences that
were the lot of a printer. He often appeared at school bearing printer's ink
smears which were almost impossible to remove and looking the worse for wear
from working all night without sleep.
Funds earned from the trade put George through university in Saskatoon and he
returned to practice law with Ben Gulak and Alex Robertson. George was very
active in the community. He was a Rotarian, a director of the Lloydminster
Credit Union, City solicitor, and president of the Alberta and Saskatchewan
local Bar Associations. His involvement in First Baptist Church included
Chairman of the Joint Boards, Treasurer, Camp Chairman and Building Committee
Chairman for each of the church and Bible Camp. After the death of his son
Larry, he became heavily involved in the Canadian Cancer Society at provincial
and national levels. As Chairman of the National Planning Committee he was
instrumental in developing and instituting the strategic plan adopted by the
Society in its 50th year.
George received many school and university scholarships and was honoured to
represent Canada on an Air Cadet exchange visit to the United Kingdom. He was
recognized on several occasions for his community service. In 1977 he was
appointed a Queen's Counsel for Alberta. In 1990 he was appointed a Justice of
the Court of Queen's Bench for Saskatchewan. He found it difficult to leave
Lloydminster, his church, friends, clients, and his law partnership which by
then had grown to 12 lawyers and a host of support staff.
George will likely be remembered as Lloydminster's first
superior court justice.