Editor’s Note: Western North Carolina is rich with untold stories—many resting quietly in local cemeteries. In this Tombstone Tales series, we explore the lives of people from our region’s past whose legacies, whether widely known or nearly forgotten, helped shape the place we call home.
FLETCHER, N.C. — Beneath the shade of trees in Calvary Episcopal Churchyard rests a man remembered as much for his service in uniform as for his devotion to animals. The gravestone of Dr. Edward Lindsay Shuford, D.V.M., is inscribed with a simple phrase that speaks volumes: “He loved all creatures great and small.”
Born April 21, 1895, in Hickory, North Carolina, Edward Lindsay Shuford, Jr. grew up in a prominent family rooted in the foothills of Catawba County. Drawn to animals and their care, he pursued veterinary studies at North Carolina State and Kansas City School of Veterinarian Medicine…