Secretaries of L&I
1935-1939
Ralph Moody Bashore
Ralph Moody Bashore was born in Tremont, Pennsylvania on August 26, 1894. He graduated from Tremont High School; Conway Hall in Carlisle; and Dickinson College with Bachelor and Master of Arts degrees. He earned a Bachelor of Law degree at Dickinson Law School in Carlisle. He was a member of Pennsylvania Epsilon Phi Delta Theta Fraternity.
He was a practicing attorney in Tremont; a member of the Bar of Schuylkill county; and the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. He was solicitor for the town of Schuylkill; President of the Schuylkill County Fair Association; a member of the Kiwanis Club of Pottsville; and a director of Pottsville Hospital. He was Chairman of Schuylkill County Democratic Committee and Secretary of the Democratic State Committee.
He was a WWI veteran who graduated from the First Officers Training Camp at Fort Niagara. He served as an officer at various training camps; and with the 54th Pioneer Infantry of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF); and was a member of the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars.
He was appointed Secretary of Forests and Waters by Governor George Howard Earle on January 15, 1935; and appointed Secretary of the Department of Labor and Industry on July 2, 1935.
From PA Manual, 1943.