Charleston Gazette
Harmon, Roy Lee, Poetic Appointee
March 8, 1961
A veteran poet laureate was back on the job Tuesday. Roy Lee Harmon of Beckley, a Democratic poet, was re-appointed by W. W. Barron, a Democratic governor, to the honorary (and payless) state post. Harmon has held the job for 30 years in two hitches, or stanzas.
He replaces Vera Andrew Harvey of Huntington, a Republican poet appointed by Cecil Underwood, a Republican governor.
Harmon is a member of the House of Delegates from Raleigh County, a newspaperman, and the author, of course, of poems.
He was first appointed by Gov. Homer A. Holt in 1937. The only other poet laureates have been Mrs. Harvey and James Lowell McPherson of Charleston who served 1943-1946.