The purpose and goal of this website is to bring recognition and honor to my mother, Z. Pearl Noel. Mama, which we children called her, showed great love and devotion to her family, through her Christian faith, in serving us and demonstrating her thirst for learning and sharing that knowledge. She prayed and yearned for all her children to succeed in life, and believed that education could help assure this.
She raised seven children. She loved her school days and always wanted to be a teacher. But, she only completed an eighth grade education in rural Oklahoma in 1919. To her great credit, she obtained a high school diploma from American School by correspondence over five years, in her late 40s and early 50s. She then completed an on-campus bachelor’s degree in history/education and French at the age of 58, in June,1963.
The methods and focus of this project: With the invaluable assistance of my co-editor and dear wife, Patricia, I plan to post, frequently, approximately ten to twelve pages from the autobiographical and family history writings of our author. The goal is to publish her entire autobiographical writings within the coming year or so.
, Source of the material posted: Mama was a gifted writer and left for posterity, a well researched, and documented handwritten manuscript containing four books. Book I Thornton ancestors from 1600s England to Pearl’s childhood to 1916. Book II 1916-1920, Pearl’s teen years. Book III 1920 to 1934, oral history of Noels and marriage of Frank and Pearl and early lives of children on the farm. Book IV from 1934 to 1953 she completes this saga of raising a large family, and concludes it February, 1953, at Frank’s death. Mama desired to publish this work, but was not able to find a willing publisher. We will attempt to satisfy her desire on this website, with care, minimal editing, and with accuracy and respect.
I will use old photographs when useful for providing needed context in the times she lived, illustrating the events, some of the people involved.
If you have photographs and memories related to Pearl and think they may contribute to our purpose, please consider sharing them with me, and when appropriate I will post them with your permission and to your credit.
Also, now that you have found this website, please share it with your family and friends as you see appropriate. Encourage them to visit the website, but not “share” on Twitter or Facebook and other social media sites without permission. I will consider all requests. Mama’s writing are clearly of great value for genealogy research purposes, and we eager for those researchers in our family to use it. Also, she would be pleased that more distant kin (think DNA discoveries) and close friends of each of her offspring’s family be able to see her writings. My desire is that her work be given the respect it deserves. Thanks.
Your comments, thoughts and suggestions are welcome; leave them at the very bottom of each post. Also, you can leave them in the Contact message box with your email. I will respond as time allows. Thank you.
Enjoy!
Ray Allan Noel, M.D., retired, the youngest child of Frank and Pearl Noel