Alice Jo Nobles, age 89, a resident of Little Rock, Arkansas, died Sunday, August 9, 2015, in Little Rock. She was born on September 24, 1925 in Dierks, Arkansas to Joe and Florence (Bess) Mantooth Nobles. After earning a baccalaureate and master’s degree from the University of Arkansas, Jo taught school in Rogers and Conway before going to Washington, D.C. in 1955 on a teachers’ internship program. She liked Washington and remained there where she worked for the United States Senate for more than forty years, first in the offices of United States Senators Mike Monroney (D-Oklahoma) and Harold Hughes (D-Iowa). When Dale Bumpers (D-Arkansas) was elected to the United States Senate she became his personal assistant and office manager, a position she held and performed with great distinction until Senator Bumpers retired in 1998. Her talents, humor, and work ethic earned her the respect and affection of generations of Senate interns and staff. Jo returned to Arkansas in 2005 and made Parkway Village her home until the time of her death. She was surrounded there by many friends and, in recent years, by her excellent caregivers. She is survived by her cousins, Daryl Crusoe and Kyle Crusoe both of Choctaw, Oklahoma, Dee Anne Crusoe of Idabel, Oklahoma, Sara Mantooth Cooper of Jackson, Mississippi, Melissa Mantooth Pfeiffer of Burlington, North Carolina, Randall Patrick Mantooth of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, Jerry Daniel Poole of The Woodlands, Texas, Jeffrey Dumont Poole of McKinney, Texas and Rebecca Poole Duncan of Burleson, Texas. Funeral services for Alice Jo Nobles will be held at 10:30 a.m., Friday, August 14, 2015, in First Baptist Church in Dierks, Arkansas, with Dr. David Blasé officiating. Burial will follow in Dierks Cemetery, under the direction of Wilkerson Funeral Home in Dierks. In lieu of flowers memorials may be made to the Bess Nobles Scholarship c/o Dierks High School, P.O. Box 124, Dierks, Arkansas 71833. You may register on-line at www.wilkersonfuneralhomes.com
