Earl Newbry

Background

Earl Newbry was born in Rocky Ford, Colorado, on April 15, 1900.

Career

A native of Colorado, he served as the twenty-fifth Secretary of State of Oregon after appointment by Oregon Governor John Hubert Hall. A Republican, he previously served two terms in the Oregon House of Representatives and three terms in the Oregon State Senate. He and his family came to Oregon in the early 1920s.

They established themselves in Jackson County in the city of Ashland.

Newbry managed a fruit growing and packing firm in the Rogue River Valley before entering politics. He served in the Oregon House for the 1939 and 1941 legislative sessions.

A Republican from Ashland, he was then elected to the Oregon Senate representing District 6 in 1942. Newbry served in the state senate during the 1943, 1945, and 1947 sessions of the Oregon Legislature.

In late October 1947, Governor Earl Snell, Secretary of State Robert South. Farrell, Junior., and Senate President Marshall Cornell were killed in a plane accident near Dog Lake, Oregon, while on their way to a hunting trip.

As the first two successors were killed along with the Oregon Governor, the Speaker of the House, John Hubert Hall, became governor. Hall"s first act as Governor was to appoint Newbry as Oregon Secretary of State. In office, Newbry was responsible for creating branch offices of the Department of Motor Vehicles across the state and implementing the use of permanent license plates in the state.

Newbry remained in office until January 7, 1957.

After leaving office he returned to Southern Oregon and resumed his business career. Newbry died on September 2, 1995, in Ashland, Oregon.

Achievements

• Newbry ran for a seat in the Oregon House of Representatives and won the House District 19 seat which at the time was Jackson County in 1938. He won election to a full term in office in 1948 and then won re-election in 1952, defeating Edith Green.