George Arnold Getman was born September 17, 1899 in Owosso, Michigan. Getman attended Michigan Agricultural College (now Michigan State University) from 1918 to 1920 and studied agriculture. In the 1918 college catalog, he was listed as both a freshman and a Student Army Training Corps (SATC) student. From 1920 to 1921, he was a short course instructor for Gas Engines, and from 1921 to 1924 he was field foreman for Farm Crops and instructor in Farm Mechanics. Getman was an instructor in Agricultural Engineering from 1924 to 1927, and a superintendent in Farm Crops during the 1925-1926 academic year. He resigned from the college in October 1927.

After leaving the college, Getman worked for the W. K. Kellogg Consolidated Agricultural School in Hickory Corners, Michigan. Documents in the collection list him as a farm manager, and the President of the Board of Education. As part of his duties at the model school, he oversaw the construction of buildings and the sowing of the first crops. He resigned in 1929. According to the 1930 U.S. census, Getman lived in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and worked as a salesperson in mill feeds. By the mid-1930s, he moved to Owosso. He worked for several employers, including the American Box Board Company (purchaser), Michigan Sugar, Shiawassee County (social welfare director), Saginaw Tuberculosis Sanitarium (administrative assistant), and Shiawassee Mutual Fire Insurance (agent)

He married Hilda Mae Bonsor (May 28, 1900 – December 3, 1979) on September 20, 1919 in Owosso. They had two children: George Arnold, Jr. (September 18, 1921 – February 6, 2008), and Allan Pierce (March 20, 1929 – January 16, 2003). Getman died on July 18, 1978.