Marie-Gilberte Noel Latour

She was the first-born child of a teacher and school superintendent, who met at one of the first schools in Haiti's history dedicated to educating young girls. She grew to become a doctor, teacher, and mentor at the first hospital in US history, whose seal bore the image of the Good Samaritan.

Marie-Gilberte Noel Latour left this world on July 9, 2023. In her final days, she was surrounded by her children, grandchildren, daughter-in-law, beloved niece and her children. She passed away peacefully, following a cancer diagnosis that quickly overtook her body even as her spirit and intellect remained razor sharp -- correcting her daughter's French, inquiring about any boyfriends for her teenage granddaughter, and referencing Marilyn Monroe upon seeing her grandniece's waves of blonde hair. Upon receiving an unexpected and devastating diagnosis from her son, she did what all mothers do: She consoled him. "Don't cry. I have lived a good life," she said. She told him that she was proud of her children - and that she was proud of herself, for all she had accomplished in an extraordinary life that stretched from Haiti's rural villages to America's first capital.

When Marie-Gilberte earned her medical degree in 1962, women doctors were rare enough that Haiti's medical school, L'Universit? d'Etat de Medecine et de Pharmacie, had to hand-write a tiny, feminine singular "e" on her diploma for the phrase "n?e aux Cayes," or "born in Cayes," a coastal town on the shores of Haiti's southern peninsula (also the birthplace of Haitian Revolution leader Andre Rigaud and one John James Audubon, the legendary American naturalist who shared Marie-Gilberte's passion for gardens, plant life, and nature).

As a young girl, she was already a traveler, making journeys back and forth from her family's home in the seaside town of Cayes to Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince, for her education. She completed high school at Sainte Rose de Lima, known among Haitians as "Lalue," where she learned to make a bed with perfect corners and become ambidextrous despite her natural left-handedness, which the watchful Sisters of Joseph condemned. Both of these were early proofs of the duty and discipline that would anchor Marie-Gilberte's ethics throughout her life.

The other ethic that anchored her? Education, a generational gift that her parents, Rita Gregoire Noel and Oriol Noel, had passed on to her, and that she passed on to her children. Her educational journey led her from medical school in Haiti to Montreal, Canada, to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she would have to re-learn all of her medical training in English and would eventually become Chief of the GI section of Diagnostic Radiology and Assistant Professor of Radiology at University of Pennsylvania's School of Medicine. She practiced and taught at the hospital and university for over 20 years, until her retirement in 1997. Her lifelong learning continued long into retirement, with educational travel that took her to Cuba, Russia, China, and South Africa, among many other destinations.

In her decades spent in Philadelphia, she was a dutiful wife and constant source of support, guidance, and high expectations for her two children, known affectionately in the Noel family as "Steph" and "Chouche." Though she lived two hours from the geographic center for the Noels and so many Haitians, New York City, Marie-Gilberte was nonetheless an anchoring presence to her extended family, with the will to act courageously or disagree vehemently whenever she believed it was the right thing to do. Her other loves included classical music, gardening, and travel, especially her two homes away from home: the reclusive mountains of the Poconos in Pennsylvania and the elegant, sophisticated neighborhoods of Paris, France. Then, starting in 2004, those loves took a far back seat with the arrival of four grandchildren, two boys and two girls, in Massachusetts and Maryland. Her life as a grandmother - "Mamie" to her grandkids - gave her immense joy.

Marie-Gilberte is survived by her two children, Stephane Joseph Latour (Michelle) and Marie-France "Francie" Latour (Wayne); her precious grandchildren, Owen Sky Comiskey, Riley Rose Comiskey, Leo Satchel Comiskey, and Lauren Alexandra Latour; her beloved sisters, Gladys Noel, Rolande Blanchard (Lionel), Maryse Noel Roumain (Claude), and Gina Noel. She was preceded in death by two of her younger siblings, Janine Noel and Henri Noel, and by her half-brother Marcel Noel (Merette) and half-sister, Flore Noel S?vere (Nemours). Marie-Gilberte also leaves behind many nieces and nephews: Katia Hollant Jackson (Joey), Richard Hollant (Kerry), Dominique Blanchard, R?gine M. Roumain (Edouard), Alix Noel-Gu?ry, Jason Blanchard, Marie-Eve Noel (Dominique), and Christian Roumain, as well as the children of her half-siblings: Betty Noel, Raphael Noel, Myrlene S?vere, Charlie S?vere, and Jacques-Henri S?vere. She was especially close to the children of her beloved niece R?gine, Kyra Marley Roumain-Portelette and L?a Janine Roumain-Portelette.

On behalf of the entire family, we thank you. Merci pour votre amour.