Lealan moved to Neosho at a young age and graduated from high school in 1930. He attended the former Ozark Wesleyan College in Carthage and worked in the college print shop which started a career in the newspaper business spannimg 45 years. He worked in the newspaper offices in Neosho and in 1946 became co-owner of the Neosho Times, a weekly newspaper and job shop. He later sold his share of the business and went to Arkansas where he worked at the Pine Bluff Commercial and Arkansas Democrat in Little Rock. In 1953 he moved to Joplin and went to work for The Joplin Globe, retiring in 1975, after 14 years as composing room foreman.