Born in Chatsworth, Georgia, Vining was a United States Air Force staff Sergeant from 1951 to 1955. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Georgia in 1959 and a Juris Doctor from the University of Georgia School of Law in 1959. He was in private practice in Dalton, Georgia from 1958 to 1969, serving as solicitor general of the Conasauga Judicial Circuit from 1963 to 1968. He was a superior court judge of the Conasauga Judicial Circuit from 1969 to 1979.
