Noel Elliot Stenoien – Houston, TX

We lost Noel Thursday, August 31, 2023. While physically struggling the past couple of years due to the combined effects of age and past illnesses, he was still able to spend quality time with his wife, see his kids, watch a soccer game and see his granddaughter Olivia in a church play. He was down, but never out, and passed away peacefully at the Houston (TX) VA after a very short illness. Noel was born in Williston, Divide County, North Dakota April 7, 1935. He was the seventh of eight children, born to Ole Stenoien and Bura Dell Bowen, who had recently moved from their uncle Sven and Peter’s homestead to nearby Williston, victims of the dustbowl of the ‘30s. The family relocated to Fergus Falls, Minnesota when he was six months old and later moved to nearby Battle Lake. He lost his father, Ole to the ravages of tuberculosis when he was 14 years old. Like his siblings, he was always working in order to help support his family. His various jobs included bee keeping, farming and even a stint in the mess hall at Camp Roberts in California (he hitchhiked 1920 miles in order to make a dollar an hour). He graduated from Battle Lake High School in 1953. `Noel attended the University of Minnesota but found that despite working multiple jobs, he would literally run out of food before the end of each month. He enlisted in the Army in order to qualify for the GI Bill, where he spent three years, the last two in Germany. Upon his return, he worked for Thermo King and started night school in earnest, graduating from the university in 1962 with a major in chemistry and a minor in English. Noel met his wife, Janice Sorenson of Sauk Centre at the Marigold Ballroom in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The story goes that Jan was not impressed until he told her that he had a car and would be happy to drop her off at her parents’ farm on his way home on weekends. They were soon inseparable and married at the Little Brown Church in the Dell in Iowa January 4, 1958. Noel had more than his share of physical infirmities. He was diagnosed with tuberculosis in 1958, undergoing a lung resection and medical treatment for 10 months at the sanitarium. After suffering a terrible headache, he was one of the first patients to undergo a cerebral angiogram at Swedish Hospital, where he was diagnosed with a ruptured cerebral aneurysm, an often fatal condition. While partially paralyzed and initially unable to walk, he recovered with only a blind spot and a frustratingly poor golf swing. Noel and Jan were blessed with three boys, Randall born in 1960, David in 1961 and Bradley in 1969. Despite both working full-time, they made certain that the boys made all of their baseball, soccer and hockey practices and were always present to cheer them on during games. In addition, Noel helped coach soccer and managed Randy and David’s hockey teams. Noel and Jan were also avid tennis, golf and bridge players. Noel was a big fan of the San Antonio Spurs and made going to games with his family a priority. He showed his love to his family by actions more than words. One day when he was feeling terrible he still kept his promise by bringing his son, Brad to a basketball game. Noel’s first real employment was with Control Data where he was a computer technical writer at Cape Canaveral (later Cape Ken-nedy). He was then recruited by Dick Donaldson to work at Donaldson’s, a very successful parts manufacturer for multiple companies such as GE and John Deere. Noel left Minneapolis in 1974 to start a new venture in San Antonio, Texas a Canadian soft drink franchise named Pic-a-Pop with his friend, Dick Bouchard. Despite tremendous effort and hard work, the venture failed (there is some speculation that southerners do not know what pop means). It also didn’t help that Randy and David’s soccer team would hang out at one of the stores after practice and drink large quantities of free pop. After obtaining his real estate and broker’s license, Noel started Midas Realty in 1977. He then developed South Cross Ranch, a high quality mobile home development. This was very successful, until the Savings and Loan Crisis in Texas drained the company accounts, resulting in a second unwarranted bankruptcy. Noel resurrected Midas Realty and eventually operated the Bonner Garden Bed and Breakfast from 1993 through 2004, making many good friends and memories in the process. Noel was an extremely bright, hard-working and well-read man. He was very creative, loving both the design and execution of such diverse projects as a home remodel, lakeside cabin, chicken coop or custom greenhouse. He was incredibly tolerant of others, despite his own conservative and libertarian views. Noel respected diversity before we even knew what that meant. While cynical about religion most of his life, he returned to his religious roots late in life. Noel is survived by his wife, Jan; sons, Randall (Robie), David (Kavita) and Brad (Shelley); as well as seven grandchildren, Gregory (Ashley), Kirstin, Kile, Olivia, Roshan, Neela and Abigail. He is also survived by one great-grandchild, Julia as well as his sister, Bonnie Pederson. The family will be remembering and celebrating Noel’s life at South Main Baptist Church Chapel located at 4100 Main St, Houston, TX 77002 at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, the 29th of October.