[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Page 235]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                REMEMBERING JUDGE LIONEL ``RED'' NOONAN

 Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, I was saddened over the holidays 
to learn of the death of a good man and friend, Judge Lionel ``Red'' 
Noonan of Mobile, AL, at the age of 86. Judge Noonan was a wonderful 
man. He knew it was all about service to others, and the courtesy, 
ease, and empathy he displayed to all he came upon was noticed and 
appreciated and remembered. Many think good politicians are the smooth 
folks, always ready with the right words, always thinking, always 
plotting, but Judge Noonan was a great politician because he served his 
constituents with grace and it came back to him in respect and in 
votes.
  As a practicing lawyer in probate court, he always treated me the way 
he treated everyone. I was a rock-ribbed young Republican and he a 
loyal Democrat, yet I couldn't have been more fairly treated by him. I 
had always heard, from my Republican friends, what a good man he was. 
As I have gotten older, I have come to see that in a place such as 
Mobile, where people really know one another, those who have good 
reputations are invariably good people. Judge Noonan's good reputation 
was justly earned over a lifetime of honest dealing.
  The Republicans were always hoping that he would switch parties and 
join them. That is in itself a high compliment to be courted by two 
parties. But to the Democrats he remained true.
  Judge Noonan retired in 2001 after serving 18 years as the Mobile 
County probate judge. Prior to that he had served 8 years in the 
Alabama State Senate and was a 4-year starting fullback for the Alabama 
Crimson Tide after World War II.
  He and his wonderful wife Ruby have been a fine team. They have 
always been active politically for causes they believed in in the 
classical sense of the American ideal of good government and what is 
good for America. Of course, there is the sausage making part of 
politics. Sometimes, it is not all cookies and cream. Politics can be 
tough. Yet, for Ruby and Red, it was always about what would make 
Mobile, AL, and America a better place, and I have always admired that 
in them.
  His wife Ruby has lost a great partner, his children, Ruth, Kelly, 
and Lionel, Junior, a great father and mentor, and Mobile, one of the 
best loved citizens to ever have walked the streets.

                          ____________________