LUDOWICI, Ga. -- Family, friends and dignitaries are saying farewell to Georgia's longest serving sheriff.
Funeral services for Long County Sheriff Cecil Nobles were scheduled Thursday in the southeast Georgia county, where the sheriff had held office since 1969.
The Georgia Sheriff's Association says Nobles' 42 years in office not only surpassed his fellow sheriffs in the state but also made him the second longest serving sheriff in the U.S.
Nobles died Monday at a local hospital. He was 76 years old.
Dignitaries scheduled to attend the sheriff's funeral included U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston of Savannah.
The congressman praised Nobles as being part of a vanishing tradition of "long-serving, old school sheriffs."
Associated Press