Fleetus Lee Gobble (1891-1961)

Portrait from the North Carolina Legislative Manual.

  This humorously named man is Fleetus Lee Gobble, a resident of Forsythe County, North Carolina who served nearly 20 years in his state's House of Representatives. The North Carolina manual mentioned above is one in a large series of state books that can be located on archive.com. The state manuals located on said website span from 1917 up until the mid-1970s and over 30 interestingly named political figures have been discovered in them thus far! Of these new "discoveries" the name of Fleetus Lee Gobble is by far the strangest. Mr. Gobble is also notable for being the only politician profiled here thus far who was a barber by trade.
  A lifelong North Carolinian, Fleetus Lee Gobble was born on New Year's Day 1891 in Davidson County, North Carolina, the son of John H. and Frances Foster Gobble. He attended schools local to the Davidson County area and in 1911 began studying at the Atlanta Barber College. After completing his studies at that school Gobble married in 1913 to Lena Blanche Evans (1888-1975). Their nearly fifty-year union produced three children, Juanita (1914-1989), Fleetus Lee (1919-1986), and James Franklin (1922-1989).
   Throughout the succeeding years, Gobble put his education at the earlier mentioned Barber's College to good use, as he became prominent in his field in the Forsythe County area. The North Carolina State Archives (which houses Gobble's papers and business correspondence) gives notice that he was the owner of a chain of barbershops as well as two schools of cosmetology. Gobble held a membership in the Associated Master Barbers of America and also served as the president of the State Association of Master Barbers from 1934-1935.
  In addition to his professional and business activities, Fleetus L. Gobble attained prominence in state politics. In 1941 the citizens of Forsythe County elected him to the North Carolina State House of Representatives for the first of many terms. His service in the state legislature was almost continuous (except for the 1947-49 session), and during his lengthy service, Gobble held a seat on multiple house committees, including the following: Appropriations; Banks and Banking; Counties, Cities, and Towns; Enrolled Bills; Expenditures of the House; Health; Insurance; Institutions for the Blind; Manufactures and Labor; Printing; Public Welfare; and Unemployment Compensation.
   Late in his service in the legislature, Gobble was appointed by North Carolina Governor (and future U.S. Attorney General) Luther Hartwell Hodges to the position of trustee for the Winston-Salem Teachers College in 1955. He served a four-year term in this post, which concluded on June 30, 1959. In addition to his profession and political service, Gobble was active in the local Methodist Church, being its treasurer from 1926-28, and also served a year-long term as president of the Men's Bible Class.

  Fleetus Lee Gobble died of a heart attack in Raleigh on March 1, 1961, at age 70. He was an incumbent representative at the time of his death and was subsequently buried in the Mount Olivet United Methodist Church Cemetery in Davidson County, North Carolina. The portrait of Gobble above was discovered in a 1945 North Carolina manual, and this same picture appeared in subsequent editions of this state book as his official legislative portrait. 

Gobble's obituary as it appeared on the front page of the Rocky Mount Evening Telegram in 1961.