Print
Permanent LinkSenator Leslie E. Francis View All Years
LESLIE E. FRANCIS
MR. PRESIDENT: Your committee, appointed to prepare suitable resolutions commemorating the life, character and public service of the late Honorable Leslie E. Francis, begs leave to submit the following:
He was born April 4, 1871, on the farm near Spirit Lake, which his parents homesteaded in May, 1860, three years after the Indian massacre that started March 8, 1857, and he died February 11, 1957. He received his law degree from the State University of Iowa in 1893 and began his practice of law at Spirit Lake.
Mr. Francis married Mary Francis Dodge, who survives. Also surviving is a daughter, Mrs. Miriam Francis Dodge. A son, Merwyn, preceded him in death, February 24, 1924.
Mr. Francis was Dickinson County attorney from 1895 to 1901. He was elected State Senator in 1908 and reelected in 1912. He moved to Des Moines in 1918 to form a law partnership with former Attorney General, George Cosson. He was legal advisor to the Iowa Liquor Control Commission from soon after it was organized in 1934 until May, 1935.
Mr. Francis was a member of the Presbyterian Church, a Knight Templar and a member of the Shrine.
Be It Resolved by the Senate of the Fifty-seventh General Assembly: That in the passing of Leslie E. Francis, the State of Iowa has lost a valuable and honorable citizen and by this resolution tenders its sincere sympathy to the surviving members of the family.
Be It Further Resolved: That a copy of this resolution be spread on the Journal of the Senate, and that the Secretary of the Senate be directed to forward an enrolled copy to the members of the family of the deceased.
HARRY E. WATSON,
J. T. DYKHOUSE,
GEORGE E. O'MALLEY,
Committee.
The resolution was unanimously adopted.