Charles H. Ealy

Ealy established a private law practice in Somerset and tried cases before state appellate courts, district courts, and the US Supreme Court. From 1916 to 1919, he served as Somerset County solicitor.^[3] Elected to the state senate in 1926, he served five consecutive terms, including four years as president pro tempore, through 1946, when he retired and returned to Somerset to resume his practice. Ealy's four-year term as president pro tempore was the longest continuous term since William Marks in 1825. He chaired the senate's judiciary, elections, appropriations, and county government committees and served on the Joint State Government Commission from 1939 to 1947, serving as the commission's vice president from 1943 to 1947.^[1] He served three years as president of the Somerset Chamber of Commerce and was a deacon of the Presbyterian Church of Somerset.^[3]

Ealy was a conservative Republican who adamantly opposed the federal government's New Deal as well as ramped-up state government spending on social welfare and public projects during the Great Depression. He led the opposition to Governor George Earle's Little New Deal. As president pro tempore during World War II, Ealy was responsible for passage of the state's defense and security laws, wartime manufacturing bills, federal compliance legislation, and veterans' job assistance bills.^[1]

Ealy married Edna May Pritts circa 1908; the couple had three daughters.^[4] He died from a heart attack at his Somerset home within a year of his retirement.^[1]