Appalachian Figures
Leila Feltner Begley’s time as Kentucky’s Secretary of State was short, but the paper trail she left behind is unusually clear. Appointed by Governor Louie B. Nunn after the death of her husband and predecessor, Elmer Begley, she served through the fall of 1970 into early 1971. What survives from those months is the kind of evidence historians love: court captions, official election returns, and stamped certificates that still circulate in state regulatory files. Together they fix her public service in ink.
Appointed in a moment of grief
Elmer Begley died in office on September 18, 1970. Within days, Governor Nunn appointed Leila Feltner Begley to succeed him as Secretary of State. The state’s own historical summary of the office records her appointed tenure as September 21, 1970 to February 2, 1971, and notes that both she and her successor Kenneth F. Harper were gubernatorial appointees during this period.
What the primary sources show
Within three weeks of her appointment, federal ballot-access litigation in the Eastern District of Kentucky styled her exactly as the job required: “Leila Begley, Secretary of State of Kentucky.” The caption in Pratt v. Begley, decided in October 1970, is a contemporaneous marker that she was the proper statewide custodian for filings under Kentucky election law.
Another kind of primary evidence comes from the routine corporate paperwork the Secretary of State certifies. A Kentucky Public Service Commission docket preserves an original “Department of State” certificate dated January 21, 1971 that bears her name and signature block: “LEILA F. BEGLEY, Secretary of State.” As a document created in the course of office, it shows her exercising the core ministerial functions of the post during that winter.
The nuts and bolts of election administration also continued under her watch. The Kentucky State Board of Elections’ official returns for the November 3, 1970 general election are preserved in a state-hosted PDF series, a contemporaneous record of the vote that rolled out during her tenure.
A short tenure, bracketed by two appointments
The office’s historiography helps bracket her service. The Secretary of State’s “Trivia and History” page records Leila Feltner Begley’s appointment in September 1970, then notes that Kenneth F. Harper was appointed in February 1971 to complete the term. This matches the end date given for Begley’s service, and explains the transition before Thelma Stovall returned to the office after the 1971 election.
The person behind the signature block
Obituaries and family notices fill in the human details often missing from official files. They record that Leila Feltner Begley was born January 5, 1915, in Hyden, Kentucky, married Elmer Begley in 1941, moved to Austin, Indiana in 1975, and died there on May 9, 2010 at age 95. These sources also recall her earlier career as a longtime educator, the background from which she stepped into statewide office.
Why it matters
For Appalachian political history, Leila Feltner Begley’s service illustrates how Kentucky managed continuity in a constitutional office during a family tragedy. The legal caption in a federal lawsuit, a PSC-filed certificate, and a stack of state election returns show an appointed official carrying out the quiet, necessary work that keeps the system running. That kind of stewardship can be hard to narrate. It is easy to document.
Sources and further reading
Pratt v. Begley, 352 F. Supp. 328, E.D. Ky. Oct. 9, 1970. Federal court opinion captioned against “Leila Begley, Secretary of State of Kentucky.” Justia Law
Kentucky Public Service Commission filing with embedded Kentucky Department of State certificate signed “LEILA F. BEGLEY, Secretary of State,” dated Jan. 21, 1971. KY PSC
Kentucky State Board of Elections, Statement of the Official Vote series, including returns for the Nov. 3, 1970 general election. State Board of Elections+1
Office of the Kentucky Secretary of State, “Trivia and History” page: appointed tenure dates for Leila Feltner Begley and Kenneth F. Harper. Secretary of State+1
Lexington Herald-Leader obituary via Legacy.com, and Adams Family Funeral Homes notice: birth, marriage, residence, and death details. Legacy+1