Judge Charles Lee Horsey Sr.

  Notes:

To THE HONORABLE, THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEVADA: Your Committee appointed to prepare and present resolutions on the life of The Honorable Charles Lee Horsey, giving impressions of the high esteem in which he was universally held, and stressing the sorrow of the members of the bench and bar of Nevada because of his passing, respectfully submit the following:
Honorable Charles Lee Horsey who died in Santa Barbara, State of California, on March 30, 1958, was born in Laurel, Delaware on December 23, 1880. He was educated in the private schools in Laurel and later attended the University of Virginia where he received his L.L.B. Degree in 1904. He was married to Margaret Woodruff Hitch September 7, 1903, and of this marriage there were four children, Charles Lee Horsey, Jr., Clark Horsey and Francis Horsey, all of Las Vegas, Nevada, and Mrs. Virginia Allred of Santa Barbara, California. He was a life-long Democrat, and had long been identified with the Nevada political scene and his career was climaxed by his election to the State Supreme Court. Together with his family he moved to Pioche, then a bustling Lincoln County mining community, in 1905. At that time Pioche served as county seat of the county which then included the area now encompassing Clark County. He served as District Attorney of Lincoln County from 1906 to 1908 and then was elected State Senator, serving in the State Legislature from 1913 through 1915. While in the State Senate he chaired the judiciary committee and was closely identified with the writing of many statutes, now on the books, which liberalized benefits for workers and tightened safety laws affecting the mining industry. Throughout his active life he had been associated in the development of mining and served as president of the Virginia-Louise Mining Company from 1917 through 1922. He served as District Judge of the Tenth Judicial District from 1915 to 1919 and later was elected State Senator from Clark County in 1939. He was appointed District Judge of the Eighth Judicial District in Clark County in 1945 and within a few months was elevated upon appointment to the State Supreme Court, by then Governor Vail Pittman. In 1946 he was elected for a full six-year term on the high court. Justice Horsey served as president of the Las Vegas Bar Association in 1929 and was a member of the Nevada State Bar, American Bar Association, American Judicature Society, University of Virginia Alumni Association, Academy of Political Science, and the Methodist Church. Besides rendering services as a public official in our state he took an active interest in civic and economic affairs, was active in fraternal affairs, and held membership in the Masons, IOOF (of which he was a past noble grand), and of the Elks. He had also been a member of Rotary and Kiwanis Clubs. In addition to his wife, three sons and daughter, Judge Horsey is survived by four grandchildren, and a great-granddaughter. Besides being a kindly person he had an exceptionally fine personality and a mind that fitted him admirably for the many official positions held by him as well as for his profession as a practicing attorney. The United States, his native State of Delaware, and the State of Nevada, are deeply indebted to him for his valuable contribution to their civic, economic, legal and political life during his brilliant career. Respectfully submitted, this 1st day of April, 1958.

A. S. HENDERSON, Chairman, WM. E. ORR, ROGER T. FOLEY, FRANK McNAMEE, RYLAND G. TAYLOR, C. D. BREEZE; HAROLD M. MORSE, GEORGE E. MARSHALL, BRYCE RHODES, Committee.

The foregoing resolution was adopted by the court and ordered spread upon its minutes, and a copy ordered to be sent to the surviving wife and children of Judge Horsey and published in the next volume of the Nevada Reports.

Charles married Margaret Woodruff (Maggie) Hitch, daughter of Daniel Curry Hitch and Mary Louisa Knox, on 07 Sep 1903. (Margaret Woodruff (Maggie) Hitch was born in Nov 1879 in Sussex Co., DE,^{2 3 4} died in 1967 in CA and was buried in 1967 in Santa Barbara Cemetery, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara Co., CA.)