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Earle Looney Elmore
Earle Looney Elmore, 99, of Maple Avenue, Morgantown, passed away Sunday, May 4, 2003, at Ruby Memorial Hospital.
He was born Dec. 19, 1903, in Tariff, Roane County, son of the late Jacob Ott and Mary Jane Looney Elmore.
In his youth, Earle lived in a log house, worked on the family farm and attended a one-room school. He graduated from Spencer High School and then attended Capital City Commerce College. He also worked for a coal company in Boomer, the Viking Gasoline Company in Charleston, and attended West Virginia University, where he acquired his bachelor's and master's degrees in 1932 and 1934.
For a short time in the early 1930s, Earle worked for the Soil Erosion Service in Spencer, planting black walnut trees that are now the focus of the Roane County Black Walnut Festival. He attended Morris Harvey College night school and received a bachelor of science degree in accounting in 1953, graduating cum laude. He was elected to honor societies Sigma Pi Sigma (physics), Phi Lambda Upsilon (chemistry) and Phi Beta Phi (general science), as well as social fraternities Delta Kappa Psi and the Mu Alpha chapter of Phi Gamma Delta. In 1933-34, he was a member of what was known as Governor Herman Guy Kump's "brain trust," an organization helping West Virginia out of financial difficulties. He later worked for the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce, taking three years leave for service in the U.S. Navy during World War II, returning with the rank of lieutenant commander, U.S.N.R. He then resumed his work with the Chamber of Commerce, becoming managing director in 1959, retiring in 1968. Earle started the publication The West Virginia Business Index.
Earle has been listed in "Who's Who in the East" and "Who's Who in Commerce and Industry." He also received the Outstanding West Virginian award in 1983 from Gov. John D. Rockefeller IV.
He is survived by a brother and spouse, Gene Francis and Virginia Elmore; a sister, Mary Louise Reardon; several nieces, nephews and cousins, including Phoebe and Oscar Schubert, of Morgantown; two close friends, George R. Seller, D.V.M., Tait Hatcher; and many other friends and caregivers.
In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his wife, Loretta Beall Elmore, in 1997; a sister, Maxine Elmore; and two brothers, Paul Andrew Elmore and Joseph Otmer Elmore.
Friends may call at Hastings Funeral Home on Wednesday from 7-9 p.m. Funeral services will be held at the funeral home Thursday, May 8, 2003, at 10 a.m., with the Rev. J. William Turley officiating. Entombment will follow in the Allegheny County Memorial Park Cemetery in Allison, Pa. Donations may be made in his memory to WVU Foundation for Pre-veterinary Medicine Students, One Waterfront Place, Morgantown, WV 26505. (Dominion Post)
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