George Deyo, former Anniston councilman and descendant of city founder, dies at 87

Jan. 19--George Deyo came into the world in a hurry in 1929, born in his grandmother's home after his mother, Anne, went into labor while entertaining her bridge club.

George was born that day into a family with roots that run straight to the first heartbeats of Anniston, the city named for his great-grandmother, Annie Scott Tyler.

Deyo died Monday at Stringfellow Memorial Hospital. The longtime Anniston politician, businessman, arts supporter and Atlanta Braves fan was 87.

Deyo's son, Ed, said by phone Thursday that his father's death came as a shock. He died of heart failure after about a week's stay in the hospital from which his family thought he'd be returning soon, he said.

Deyo was born to William and Anne Tyler Deyo. His great-great grandfather Gen. Daniel Tyler, who founded Anniston along with Samuel Noble, named the town Anniston, or "Annie's Town" after Deyo's great-grandmother.

Deyo attended school in Anniston before attending high school at the Lawrenceville School in New Jersey, where he was a member of the press club, played soccer and golf and was a chapel usher. Deyo then followed his father's footsteps by attending Princeton University, where he graduated with a degree in architecture.

In 1951 Deyo married Ann Barrington "Barry" Lupton of Philadelphia. The couple raised four children -- Ed, Dan, Lane Neura and Marion Hollingsworth -- together in Anniston.

Deyo served as a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army from 1952-53 during the Korean War.

In 1955 at the age of 25 he was named Anniston's Young Man of the Year by the Chamber of Commerce. Deyo worked as assistant vice-president of the First National Bank of Anniston from 1953 until 1960, when he became president of Johnson R&D Company. In 1964 Deyo began his long career with New York Life Insurance Company in Anniston.

In 1966 at the age of 37 Deyo ran unsuccessfully for the state senate.

A year later Deyo joined an effort to change Anniston's form of city government from a three-person commission. He was successful in doing so in 1968 and handily won election as one of the city's first five councilmen.

"The best government makes people feel a part of it," Deyo told a reporter after successfully changing the city's form of government.

Deyo was a member of the board of directors of the first National Bank of Anniston, Anniston Chamber of Commerce and the International House Foundation at Jacksonville State University. He was also active at Grace Episcopal Church, which was built in 1885 at Deyo's great-great grandfather's commissioning and modeled after a church he'd seen in Highland Falls, N.Y.

Deyo also served as a trustee and treasurer for Stringfellow Hospital, was vice-president of the Choccolocco Council Boy Scouts of America and a member of the Calhoun County Republican executive committee.

The younger Deyo said his father's life was steered by his desire to help the people. He did so through politics, but also through his insurance business, he said, in which he remained active in up until his last days.

"We completed a policy two days before he passed," Ed Deyo said. "He loved serving his clients and helping them. That's what got him up every day."

Mike Crosby worked alongside Deyo as an insurance agent for about two years, but knew him for about 20.

"He would do a lot of things to not make money but to help someone out," Crosby said. "If it was in the best interest of his customers he was happy to do it."

In 1968 Deyo was a delegate for Richard Nixon at the Republican National Convention, and served as Nixon's volunteer campaign coordinator in Alabama's fourth and fifth congressional districts that year, a position he described later as a "lonely job."

Speaking from the convention in Miami in 1968 Deyo told a reporter that the former Alabama Governor George Wallace, who was running for the presidency as the candidate for the American Independent Party, would be a big factor in who would become the Republican party's nominee, correctly predicting Nixon's win.

In 1972 Deyo lead a door-to-door campaign to drum up local support for Nixon's re-election, and was later appointed Alabama chairman for President Nixon's inaugural.

"We've got to get involved," Deyo told a reporter in 1973. "Because politics involves us and our families and everything we do."

Although active in local politics and known in Washington D.C. for his role in several campaigns for others, Deyo had little desire to run for larger offices himself.

"I don't have a statewide name, I'm not a Baptist and I didn't go to Alabama or Auburn," Deyo said with a grin to a reporter in 1973.

Anniston optometrist Dr. Ron Dachelet said by phone Thursday that his friend's death also came as a shock to him.

Dachelet recalled many regular lunches with Deyo with long conversations about family. Deyo had some trouble with his memory in later years, but never had trouble recalling family, Dachelet said.

Deyo said his father was happy in recent years to see that the city his family helped found, the place he moved back to and worked hard to better, was improving after several years of political strife.

"He was glad to realize that things were back on the upswing," Deyo said. "He was proud to know that things were starting to turn around."

"He's certainly going to be missed," Crosby said. "I think what he gave over 87 years is as much as you can ask of anyone."

A memorial service for Deyo will take place at 2 p.m. Friday at at Grace Episcopal Church in Anniston.

Staff writer Eddie Burkhalter: 256-235-3562. On Twitter @Burkhalter_Star.

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