Homer Lea - Early Life

Early Life

Homer Lea was born in Denver, Colorado, to Alfred E. (1845–1909) and Hersa A. (1846–1879; née Coberly) Lea. He had two younger sisters, Ermal and Hersa. Alfred, a Tennessee native, had a successful real estate, abstract and brokerage business in Boulder, Colorado. After his wife Hersa died from an unexpected illness in 1879, he married Emma R. Wilson in 1890 and moved his family to Los Angeles, California four years later.

Homer came from a pioneering family. His grandfather, Dr. Pleasant John Graves Lea (1807-1862), helped establish the town of Cleveland, Tennessee, in 1837, before moving his family to Jackson County, Missouri, in the late 1840s in search of new opportunities. He is the namesake for Lee’s Summit, Missouri. The town was named after him in 1868 when the Missouri Pacific Railroad established a station near his property, which was the highest point of its St. Louis-Omaha line, but misspelled his name. In 1884, Alfred Lea was involved in the establishment of Steamboat Springs, Colorado, and the following year helped his brother Joseph establish the town of Roswell, New Mexico, by surveying and drawing the first plat of the Roswell town site. In 1917, Joseph C. Lea (1841-1905) became the namesake for Lea County, New Mexico.

Homer was born seemingly healthy, but after suffering a drop as a baby, he became a hunchback, eventually standing 5-foot, 3-inches in height and weighing approximately 100 pounds. At about age 12 he went to the National Surgical Institute in Indianapolis, Indiana, where he received medical treatment that helped improve is stature. His health began deteriorating further from a degenerative kidney ailment known as Bright’s disease and he suffered chronic headaches and vision problems that may have stemmed from a diabetic condition.

Homer attended Boulder Central School (1886–1887), East Denver High School (1892–1893), the University of the Pacific college preparatory academy in San Jose, California (1893–1894), and Los Angeles High School (1894–1896). He planned on going to Harvard University and becoming a lawyer, but financial setbacks altered his plans and he attended Occidental College in Los Angeles (1897–1898) for his freshman college year and Stanford University (1898–1899) for his sophomore and junior years, before dropping out of school for health reasons.

Homer was an avid reader, a charismatic debater, and an accomplished outdoorsman who refused to be bound by the limitations of his disabilities. He loved reading military history and particularly admired Napoleon, in part because his slight stature was an example of greatness unaffected by physical size. He excelled as a debater and developed effective skills in influencing others. He became president of the Los Angeles High School debating society and later president of the local Lyceum League national debating society chapter. He loved adventure and the outdoors and often went on rugged camping trips where he always carried his own weight.