Don O. Noel Jr.

Don O. Noel Jr., 93, of Bloomfield, passed away peacefully at his home at the Seabury Retirement Community. Throughout his life Don was dedicated to the written word – primarily as a journalist beginning in middle school and throughout his long career covering Connecticut politics, and more recently in retirement writing fiction. Born to Don and Catherine Noel in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Don graduated from West Orange High School. He began his undergraduate education at Deep Springs Junior College, in California – an education and experience he believed to be one of the most formative in preparing him for the rest of his life. He went on to study and earn his BA from Cornell University. During the summer of 1952, he traveled from Deep Springs to Cornell, driving his thoroughly refurbished 1930 Model A Ford across the country – through all 48 contingent states – sending weekly articles about his trip and geology of the states he traveled to the Newark Sunday News. It was while at Cornell, at a meeting of young Quakers, he met the love of his life, Elizabeth "Brad" Foulds. While home on break for the holidays Don secured a family diamond ring from his mother with the intent of proposing upon returning to campus. Waiting too long for the right moment, he failed to propose before a mutual friend sent Brad a note congratulating her on her engagement! They were married in 1953. Don applied, and was recognized as a conscientious objector and the couple accepted an assignment with the American Friends Service Committee in Tokyo, Japan, to direct and expand weekend and summer work camps, helping young adult Japanese students learn to manage the program. At the end of their term, they traveled home from Japan, through Asia and Europe, backpacking through over two-dozen countries. Returning to Connecticut (Brad's hometown) Don began his career in 1958, as a reporter for The Hartford Times. Daughter Emily was born the same year; son Ken two years later. While working full time, Don designed and built a home in New Hartford, learning the necessary construction skills as he went. In 1963, he wrote "The Negro in Hartford" a 40-page special tabloid section of the paper, which won the paper a Pulitzer Prize special citation. Increasingly involved in city and civil rights issues, the family moved into the integrated Blue Hills neighborhood of Hartford in 1964, where both children attended public school, and where Don and Brad would live for five decades. An early riser, Don anxiously awaited delivery of the morning newspaper and frequently met the delivery person at the front door; with a stern reprimand if they were tardy – that paperboy ended up being his son-in-law! In 1965, he was awarded an Alicia Patterson Fellowship, affording him the opportunity for a year abroad studying economic development along rivers; the Mekong in Cambodia and the Danube in Romania. Returning to the Times, Don took on several managerial roles before being named Editor of the Times in 1974, subsequently resigning as a result of a policy dispute with the new ultra-conservative publisher. He transitioned to television news, joining local television station, WFSB, as Senior News Correspondent, in 1975; covering politics and state government, delivering on-air editorials – "Noel's Notebook" – and hosting the weekly interview program, "Face the State." After a decade on television, Don returned to print, joining The Hartford Courant as their op-ed political columnist, penning tri-weekly columns, remaining there until his retirement in 1997. In a tribute to Don upon his retirement, then Connecticut US Senator Chris Dodd wrote "Don Noel was an old-school reporter in the truest and best sense of the term. He was always courteous and respectful of the people he interviewed and wrote about. At the same time, he refused to skirt around difficult issues and never refrained from asking stinging questions or making pointed comments. He felt that part of his role as a journalist was to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable." Upon his retirement he poured his creative energy into writing fiction. He wrote and self-published Near a Far Sea, a memoir recounting building and managing a beachfront rental house in an out-of-the-way village on the unspoiled south-west coast of Jamaica. Several years into retirement he went back to school and earned his MFA, at age 86, from Fairfield University. Since then, he has published dozens of short stories in both print and on-line literary journals; which can be found on his website, Comma-bending with Don Noel. Don and Brad enjoyed and supported the arts: theater, opera, symphony and ballet in Hartford. A weekend at Tanglewood concerts was an annual event for three decades; for twenty years they bicycled the 65 miles. Always involved in his community, among many other positions, Don served as the secretary of the Blue Hills Civic Association for over a decade, served on the Board of Directors of the ACLU of Connecticut, and served as President of the Residents Council of Seabury. Don leaves his daughter Emily, son-in-law Tim Sullivan, grandson TJ Noel-Sullivan and his fiancé Pritisha Amatya of Hartford; sister Maggie Semola of Las Vegas, NV; niece Christina and nephews Mark and David Noel and their families in Montana and Texas; nephews Kevin, David and Jeffrey Foulds of New York and Torrington and their families. In addition to his parents, he was predeceased by his wife of 65 years, Brad, his son Ken, his brother Jon Noel, brother-in-law Donald Foulds and sister-in-law Arlene Foulds. His family is grateful for Don's many friends in the community of Seabury as well as the compassionate and caring staff who supported him in his last few weeks: including Geriann, Nicola, Nemoy, Nikki, Joycelyn, and Flo; the Hartford HealthCare Hospice team; and Shaneka and the nurses from Senior Helpers. In accordance with Don's wishes, the service will be private. Memorial gifts may be made to the Hartford Monthly Meeting, 144 South Quaker Lane, West Hartford, CT 06119, or The Seabury Charitable Foundation, 200 Seabury Drive, Bloomfield, CT 06002. At the request of the family services will be private. To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Don, please visit our floral store.