Samuel Lloyd Noble

Who was Samuel Lloyd Noble?

Samuel Lloyd Noble, known as Lloyd Noble, was an oilman and philanthropist, founder of the Noble Corporation and the The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation. He attended Southeastern Normal College in Durant, Oklahoma and the University of Oklahoma. Lloyd Noble’s life has made a long-term difference to people in Oklahoma, where he is recognized as one of the fifty most influential Oklahomans of the 20th century. But, his achievements have had an impact worldwide. Noble was raised in a family of hardware merchants, whose store was built in Ardmore, Oklahoma, then a part of the Chickasaw Indian Territory. As a young man, Noble attended college in Durant, Oklahoma, earning a teaching certificate. He then taught school, but quit to attend college at the University of Oklahoma. His pursuit of higher education was cut short when he quit to help his ailing father with the family business. After his father died, he enlisted in the U. S. Navy in 1918, and was discharged the following year after the armistice was signed that ended World War I.

Lloyd Noble began his career in the early years of oil drilling in the state, founding the Noble Drilling Company on April 1, 1921.