Russell Glen Mobley

1933 - 2018

Russell Glen Mobley of Campbellsville died Oct. 26, 2018, at age 84 of complications from Parkinson's disease at the Willows at Hamburg in Lexington.
Mobley was born Nov. 18, 1933, to Elmer Mobley and Ollie Allen Mobley in the Crane Creek community of Clay County as one of nine children. He attended a one-room school and graduated high school from the Oneida Baptist Institute in 1951. After service in the U. S. Air Force, Mobley received his B.A. and M.A. from the University of Kentucky. He married Carole Ann McDaniel Mobley of Lexington in 1957. Last year they celebrated their 61st anniversary.
In the early and mid-1960s, Mobley taught high school in the Lexington area at Lafayette, Bryan Station, and Richmond Model. He directed the Lexington Children's Theater and produced and directed musical theater for several summers in the Lexington area. He came to Campbellsville University in 1971 and was director of its theater program for 34 years.
Throughout his career, he was involved in local and state politics, church ministry, and sports broadcasting. He was the Republican candidate for the U.S. 6th congressional district in 1968, and served in state government as the Deputy Commissioner of Personnel, then Deputy Commissioner of Parks during the Nunn administration. In Taylor County, he was the Deputy Judge Executive in the late 1980s. From 2000-2008, he served in the Kentucky House of Representatives representing the 51st district (Taylor and Adair counties).
Mobley was an active member of the Calvary Baptist Church (Lexington) and Campbellsville Baptist Church, and served as the Minister of Music at the Palestine Baptist Church and Lowell Ave. Baptist Church, both in Taylor County, during the 1970's and 80's.
For two decades, he combined his love for sports and theatrical skills as a radio broadcaster for high school football and basketball in the Taylor County area, and served as the "Voice of the Tigers" for Campbellsville University.
Mobley is survived by his wife, Carole. He is also survived by his five children, Gregory Mobley of New Haven, Connecticut; Jeffrey Mobley and his wife Diana Bain Mobley of Nashville, Tennessee; Stephanie Mobley Woodie of Berea; Suzanne Mobley Bennett and her husband Joel Bennett of Lexington; and Joel Mobley and his wife Mary Beth Edwards Mobley of Oxford, Mississippi. He is survived by 13 grandchildren: Hannah Bennett of Lexington, Daniel Bennett of Carbondale, Illinois, Lydia Bennett of New York City, Hunter Mobley of Nashville, Holden Mobley of Nashville, Campbell Mobley of Nashville, Esther Mobley of San Francisco, Gregory Kelley of New York City, Thomas Mobley of Newton, Massachusetts, Eli Woodie of Lexington, Abigail Woodie of Berea, Max Mobley of Oxford, Mississippi, and Alex Mobley of Oxford, Mississippi, and two great-granddaughters Harper Bennett and Belle Mobley.
He is survived by three siblings, Violet Morguson of Lexington, Betty Ruth Hensley and her husband James Hensley of Owensboro, and Joe Lester Mobley of Spring Hill, Tennessee, and 15 nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by brothers Elmer Mobley, Jr., Imon Mobley, John Mobley, Wendell Mobley, and Stephen Mobley.
Mobley was a devoted husband, son, brother, father and grandparent, a mentor to many young people whom he taught or directed, and an avid sportsman who fished, played racquet sports, basketball, and golf. With Carole, he enjoyed travel all over the globe, especially annual trips to New York City for the latest Broadway productions. Gifted in the arts, athletics, public service, and church life, tall and handsome, possessed of a commanding voice and physical presence, yet kind and generous, he naturally assumed the role of "leading man" in the eyes of his family and many others.
A memorial service will be held on Nov. 3 at 4 p.m. in the Russ Mobley Theater on the campus of Campbellsville University. The family will receive friends at the Parrott & Ramsey Funeral Home in Campbellsville from 11 a.m. -3 p.m. that same day. The family expresses its gratitude to the staff of the Willows at Hamburg for their tender care of our beloved "Papaw" over the past year and a half.