# Russ Mobley

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{{short description|American politician}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|image = 
|image_size =
|name= Russ Mobley
|caption=
|state_house=Kentucky
|district=[51st](/source/Kentucky's_51st_House_district)
|term_start=January 1, 2001
|term_end=January 1, 2009
|preceded=[Ricky L. Cox](/source/Ricky_L._Cox)
|succeeded=[John Carney](/source/John_Carney_(Kentucky_politician))
|birth_date= {{Birth date|1933|11|18}}
|birth_place= [Oneida](/source/Oneida%2C_Kentucky), [Clay County](/source/Clay_County%2C_Kentucky)<br />
[Kentucky](/source/Kentucky), U.S.
|death_date= {{Death date and age|2018|10|26|1933|11|18}}
|death_place= [Lexington](/source/Lexington%2C_Kentucky), Kentucky, U.S.
|death_cause=[Parkinson's disease](/source/Parkinson's_disease)
|resting_place=
|spouse= Carole Ann McDaniel Mobley
|children=Gregory Mobley<br />
Jeffrey Mobley<br />
Stephanie Mobley Woodie<br />
Suzanne Mobley Bennett<br />
Joel Mobley<br />
Five grandchildren
|parents=Elmer and Ollie Allen Mobley
|party= [Republican](/source/Republican_Party_(United_States))
|occupation=Educator
}}

'''Russell Glen Mobley''' (November 18, 1933 &ndash; October 26, 2018)<ref name=obit>{{cite news |url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/cknj/obituary.aspx?n=russell-glen-mobley&pid=190632277&fhid=15718|title=Russell Mobley obituary|newspaper=Central Kentucky News-Journal |date=November 1, 2018|access-date=November 5, 2018}}</ref> was a [politician](/source/politician) and [educator](/source/educator) based in his native [Kentucky](/source/Kentucky). He retired as an associate professor of theatre arts at the [private](/source/Private_school) [Campbellsville University](/source/Campbellsville_University) in [Campbellsville](/source/Campbellsville%2C_Kentucky), Kentucky.

From 2001 to 2009, he was the [Republican](/source/Republican_Party_(United_States)) member of the [Kentucky House of Representatives](/source/Kentucky_House_of_Representatives) for District 51 ([Taylor](/source/Taylor_County%2C_Kentucky) and [Adair](/source/Adair_County%2C_Kentucky) [counties](/source/County_(United_States))) in the south central portion of the state. He did not run for reelection to the house in 2008.<ref>{{cite news |date=April 15, 2008 |title=House honors retiring lawmakers |work=The [Lexington Herald-Leader](/source/Lexington_Herald-Leader) Blog}}</ref>

==Early life, education, and career==
A son of Elmer and Ollie Allen Mobley, Russ Mobley graduated from high school at the [Oneida Baptist Institute](/source/Oneida_Baptist_Institute) in 1951. He served in the [United States Air Force](/source/United_States_Air_Force) from 1951 to 1955 and was an [airman first class](/source/airman_first_class).<ref name="Russell Glen Mobley-obituary">[http://www.parrottramsey.com/obituary/russell-mobley Russell Glen Mobley-obituary]</ref> After serving in the Air Force, he obtained [Bachelor of Arts](/source/Bachelor_of_Arts) and [Master of Arts](/source/Master_of_Arts) degrees from the [University of Kentucky](/source/University_of_Kentucky) at [Lexington](/source/Lexington%2C_Kentucky).

==Career==
Mobley worked at Campbellsville University, located about eighty miles southwest of Lexington, and affiliated with the Kentucky Baptist Convention.<ref name="Russell Glen Mobley-obituary"/> Mobley taught there from 1971 until his retirement in 2005, having directed more than one hundred student plays and musicals. Among his productions were the musicals ''[Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat](/source/Joseph_and_the_Amazing_Technicolor_Dreamcoat)'',<ref name=thecamp>Joan C. McKinney, "Russ Mobley leaves 'indelible mark' on Campbellsville University," ''The Campbellsvillian: The Magazine for Alumni and Friends of Campbellsville University'' (Vol. 9, No. 2 (June 2011), p. 22.</ref> ''[1776](/source/1776_(musical))'', ''[Oklahoma](/source/Oklahoma_(musical))'', ''[Guys and Dolls](/source/Guys_and_Dolls)'', ''[Oliver!](/source/Oliver!)'' and ''[Fiddler on the Roof](/source/Fiddler_on_the_Roof).''

In 1968, Mobley lost the [general election](/source/general_election) for the [United States House of Representatives](/source/United_States_House_of_Representatives) from [Kentucky's 6th Congressional District](/source/Kentucky's_6th_Congressional_District), which included Lexington, to the [Democrat](/source/Democratic_Party_(United_States)) [John C. Watts](/source/John_C._Watts). As Mobley lost the district, 58-42 percent, Republican ticket mates [Richard M. Nixon](/source/Richard_M._Nixon) and [Spiro T. Agnew](/source/Spiro_T._Agnew) prevailed statewide and nationally. In 1981, he ran unsuccessfully in the Republican primary for the District 16 seat in the [Kentucky State Senate](/source/Kentucky_State_Senate). In that [primary election](/source/Partisan_primary), he was defeated by the [incumbent](/source/incumbent) [Doug Moseley](/source/Doug_Moseley), a [United Methodist](/source/United_Methodist) minister. Thereafter, he served as deputy commissioner of personnel and deputy commissioner of parks in the administration of Republican [Governor](/source/Governor_of_Kentucky) [Louie B. Nunn](/source/Louie_B._Nunn). He also served in the 1980s as the County Judge Executive pro tempore for Taylor County.<ref name=obit/>

==Personal life==
Mobley and his surviving widow, the former Carole Ann McDaniel (born 1938), a retired [pharmacist](/source/pharmacist), have five children: twins born in 1958, Jeffrey Mobley, an attorney in [Nashville](/source/Nashville%2C_Tennessee), [Tennessee](/source/Tennessee), and Gregory Mobley, an Andover Newton Visiting Professor of [Old Testament](/source/Old_Testament) at [Yale University](/source/Yale_University) in [New Haven](/source/New_Haven%2C_Connecticut), [Connecticut](/source/Connecticut); Stephanie Mobley Woodie, an associate professor of Health & Human Performance at [Berea College](/source/Berea_College) in [Berea](/source/Berea%2C_Kentucky), Kentucky; Suzanne Bennett, a retired educator who last taught in the Green County School District in Kentucky; and Joel Mobley (b. 1966), an associate professor of Physics and Astronomy at the [University of Mississippi](/source/University_of_Mississippi) in [Oxford](/source/Oxford%2C_Mississippi). Gregory Mobley is the coauthor of ''The Birth of Satan: Tracing the Devil's Biblical Roots.''

Russ Mobley died on October 26, 2018, at the age of eighty-four of [Parkinson's disease](/source/Parkinson's_disease).<ref>[https://www.cknj.com/content/local-leader-mobley-dies-84 Local leader Mobley dies at 84]</ref>

==Civic life==
Mobley was a member of [Rotary International](/source/Rotary_International). He was a longtime member of the Campbellsville Baptist Church.

==Legacy and honors==
In 2011, the Campbellsville University theater, in the Alumni Building, was named in Mobley's honor. CU President Michael V. Carter, at the dedication ceremonies, said that Mobley "leaves a great legacy in this place."<ref name=thecamp/>

Mobley's memorial service was held in the center which bears his name.

{{Portal|Biography|United States|Politics|Conservatism|Christianity|Education}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{S-start}}
{{S-off}}
{{Succession box
|before=[Ricky Lee Cox](/source/Ricky_Lee_Cox)
|title=[Kentucky State Representative for District 51 (Campbellsville)](/source/Kentucky_House_of_Representatives)
|years=2001&ndash;2009
|after=[John "Bam" Carney](/source/John_%22Bam%22_Carney)}}
{{S-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mobley, Russ}}
Category:1933 births
Category:2018 deaths
Category:Republican Party members of the Kentucky House of Representatives
Category:University of Kentucky alumni
Category:Baptists from Kentucky
Category:United States Air Force airmen
Category:Campbellsville University faculty
Category:People from Campbellsville, Kentucky
Category:People from Clay County, Kentucky
Category:Military personnel from Kentucky
Category:Deaths from Parkinson's disease in Kentucky
Category:20th-century Baptists
Category:Oneida Baptist Institute alumni
Category:21st-century members of the Kentucky General Assembly

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Russ Mobley](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russ_Mobley) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russ_Mobley?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.
