Public Employee Press

Union mourns Adele Nobles

Adele M. Nobles, a spirited organizer and representative of hospital and school workers at DC 37, passed away Nov. 12 at Tulane Medical Center in New Orleans, LA.

While she worked as a Nurse’s Aide at Coler Goldwater Hospital, Nobles started her union activism as a shop steward in Municipal Hospital Employees Local 420 and quickly became a full-time union staffer. She worked as a council rep in District Council 37’s Schools Division, where she set a record during her first week on the job by signing up 114 new members.

In February 1974 she was appointed assistant director of the Schools Division. After working diligently for DC 37 and serving members in the Board of Education for some 20 years, Nobles retired on April 26, 1980.

“You’ve touched the lives of people you don’t even know. You have made their existence better for your having been there,” said Executive Director Lillian Roberts at her retirement party. Her three children and several grandchildren survive Nobles.