Noel Stratmoen

Noel Elsworth Stratmoen, age 85, of Northfield, Minnesota, passed away peacefully in his sleep on November 20, 2025.
Noel was born November 20, 1940, at Dawson, Minnesota, to Esther and Edwin Stratmoen. His parents and his five siblings preceded him in death.
As a youngster, his interest was always in building something like birdhouses and doghouses,. When he was nine years old, he taught himself to electric weld so he could build a gas powered rotary lawn mower based on a photo on the cover of 1949 Popular Mechanics Magazine. He had his rotary lawn mower working that summer, waiting for the hardware stores to sell rotary lawn mower that fall. That same summer, he rebuilt a bicycle frame to hold the gas engine. It worked and soon Noel was riding his motorbike to town for swimming lessons. As he got older, and his appreciation for music increased, he was locating speakers around their house for the stereo music effect.
Noel had a gift for music. While still in diapers, Noel could hum most radio commercials before he could sing the words. Once when his Mother was entertaining her women friends for a lunch at the farm. She asked Noel to sing a song for the ladies presuming it would be "Jesus Loves Me" He chose to sing a song that the workmen building the hog house that summer had taught him "Pistol Packing Momma". He seldom was asked to sing for company after that.
His interest in music continued in Elementary, Junior High, and High School, where his education experiences were enhanced by music; including band, choir, madrigal, barbershop quartet, and solos. Noel graduated from Dawson High School in 1958 and continued his education at South Dakota State College in Brookings, SD, receiving a BA Degree in Industrial Arts, with a Minor in Art, the summer of 1962.
In March of 1962, as he was finishing his senior year at SDSU, Noel was asked to join the SDSU Engineering Staff as an Instructor. Accepting, he taught several "hands on" courses to second year Engineering students; including machine shop and machine shop practices, gas and arc welding, sheet metal, and basic technical process writing. During that same time, he assisted the College's Engineering Departments by designed and building specialty research equipment for the engineering research departments. Also during this time he earned several quarters of graduate work in Special Education.
Noel married Lois, his high school sweetheart, on August 25, 1962, at Providance Lutheran Church, rural Dawson. They had dated for seven years, including high school and continuing when they were both SDSU students. Seldom can you separate Noel and Lois, and Lois and Noel. They are a couple!! The newlyweds settled in Brookings where Lois could continue her last year of studies (Math Ed -later teaching Math at the Brookings high School) and Noel could begin his teaching assignment at SDSU. On May 31 of 1965, Lois and Noel moved to Northfield where Noel began a job with the G T Schjeldahl Company, for the couple to settle down, and for the couple to start a family. Todd was born in 1966 and Shane was born 1969. Todd and Shane married the Lindvedt sisters Todd to Royanna, and Shane to Sharon.
His first job in industry began with the G T SCHJELDAHL CO, (Jerry Maus and Herb Fick) where he starting as a Lab Technician and in seven years, advanced to Senior Engineer to design production processing equipment. Eight years later, in 1976, Noel joined CONTROL DATA CORPORATION in Minneapolis (Ralph Barr and Jim Legus) as a Project Coordinator, advancing to Senior Engineer, and later as Project Consultant to the Vice President of Operations, and then later as Manager of Plant Engineering with responsibility for over forty acres of buildings.
In 1998, Noel joined LAURA BAKER SERVICES (Paul Hermanson) as Manager of Facilities and Grounds. In 2009, Noel partnered with Brett Reese to form REBOUND PROPERTY MANAGEMENT COMPANY. After three years, Noel and Lois bought out the partnership renaming the business NORTHFIELD PROPERTY MANAGEMENT COMPANY, with Lois serving as the President.
Noel had a skill for designing, and building, and fixing just about anything. He drew the design for their Northfield home, he started a family business of designing and building wooden toys and gifts. He designed (and with the help of many friends) built their A-Frame cabin at Fox Lake (Lois' favorite place) just twelve miles west from Northfield. For fun, Noel picks up "dead" lawn mowers from the curb (Curb Side Supply) and repairs them to give away, 29 at last count.
He was always thoughtful about what he joined, and he usually "stayed on for the long haul." Noel and Lois joined Northfield's Bethel Lutheran Church when they arrived in 1965. Noel has served in nearly every church leadership position, taught Sunday school for 21 years, and for 17 years, he and Sonia Johnson co-led opening music for the 3, 4, and 5 year olds, a joy that he continues again since 2020.
Noel believed that music is the common dominator between people. Noel started singing as a 4 year old in the children's church choir in his home church in 1944. He has been a continuous member of a church choir ever since. He expressed that common dominator in his participation with choirs, barbershop and gospel quartets, solos and duets, and on-stage musicals. When Noel and Lois came to Northfield in 1965, they joined the Northfield Arts Guild. Together or as singles, Noel and Lois performed in twenty-eight different theater productions.
Noel and Lois are frequent attendees at musical events at the Northfield High School and at St. Olaf College, (missing only one St. Olaf Christmas Concert since 1966). There is no doubt that their support, and Lois' notes to the musicians, has made a difference to the musicians.
Noel was a man of respect, dignity, integrity, wisdom, kindness, generosity, and wit, with a strong moral compass. He saw positivism at every opportunity. He will be remembered for his caring and patient nature, and for his warm and friendly demeanor that allowed him an opportunity for a conversation with anyone on nearly any subject. His personality was persistent, quirky, funny, and seemingly tireless and he loved telling stories with an unexpected twist at the end. (What is the last thing that goes through the mind of a bug as he hits the windshield his butt!)
He was committed to his God, to his family, to music, to the Northfield community (Planning Commission), and to public education (re-elected to the Northfield School Board in 1980 and continuing his 42nd year), Even after two minor strokes in 2017 and 2018, Noel was able to continue his commitments with a sense of purpose to improve the lives of others. And his strokes added a new dimension to his ability Noel started writing children's stories (over 14 to date), and documenting the Stratmoen Family history, and documenting the Bethel Church history.
His faith was firmly rooted in the teachings of Jesus, and the good news of Jesus was obvious as he served those around him. Noel was a dedicated Husband, Father, and Grandfather, and a friend to so many. During his life, he frequently expressed celebration that he was blessed with many gifts, and but also blessed with many opportunities to share them. He lived his life to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with his God. He leaves a visible legacy of that philosophy for his children, grandchildren, the community, and with his many colleagues and friends. He enjoyed his family, his community, and the wonderful life that optimism, work, and loyalty provided.
He leaves his wife of 63 years, Lois Stratmoen; son, Todd (Royanna) Stratmoen and their children, Luke, Caleb (Linzie) and their son, Carson, as well as Emily (Aidan) McClellan; son, Shane (Sharon) Stratmoen and their children, Emma and Ian; as well as many nieces, nephews, other extended family, and countless friends.
A Celebration of Noel's Life will be held at 2:00 PM on Tuesday, November 25, 2025, at the Bethel Lutheran Church of Northfield with visitation from 1-2 PM. Noel will be laid to rest at Oaklawn Cemetery. Visitation will be held on Monday, November 24, 2025 from 4-7 PM with the location to be determined.
Blessed be his memory.