George began playing the clarinet at age eleven and played it and tenor sax through high school and two years of college. He didn't play again until he returned to the clarinet in early 2002 after about a forty-five year layoff in order to find peace of mind and become at one with the cosmic order. George and his wife, Marilyn, have been married for a thousand years. They have one daughter, Carolyn, and one grandson, Alex, who is a recent graduate of the Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt University, and is currently a member of the staff at W. O. Smith Nashville Community Music School. Difficult as it may be to believe, he is an infinitely better musician than his grandfather.