Roy Meredith Noon was born 6 August 1912, the first child born to the union of Roy Alonzo Noon and Anna Meredith. He was born at the home of Annas parents, William and Isabelle Thomas, in Thomastown, Summit County, Ohio with a midwife in attendance. He was named for his father, Roy, and his mothers family, Meredith. He was called "Bud" by both his father and sister throughout his lifetime.
Roy's father was working for Wells Fargo in Cannanaea, Mexico at this time and had taken a month off in order to return to Ohio for the birth of his son. After this, he and Anna's father, William Meredith, returned to Cannanaea but this proved to be for a short time only; soon to leave and return to Ohio. Roy (Senior) then went to work for the B.F. Goodrich Tire Co. but this did not work out.
In 1913 the family, including the Merediths, left for Douglas, Arizona where William had accepted a job and Roy Sr. accepted a position as Agent for the Wells Fargo Company. In 1914 Wells Fargo transferred Roy Sr. to Nogales, Arizona as Cashier and the family moved.
Roy spent all of his childhood years in Nogales, going through school here and not leaving until the family moved to San Diego, California in 1930. The family first lived on Crawford street and then moved to Noon street. Roy attended kindergarten at the home of family friends - the Milligans - in 1916/1917. About this same time the family moved on to Sierra Street. In 1918 Roy started first grade at the Elm Street Elementary school and in 1920 changed over to the Plum Street Elementary School. Here his third grade teacher was Pearl Marleau, member of a family that was to become associated with the Noons later on when Celeste Noon, Roy's aunt, married Pearls brother Charles. Roy misbehaved just once too often and his punishment was to be called "baby" and he had to sit in Pearls lap - mortified beyond words. Roy did not have to leave the building when he finished Plum Street School in 1924 and entered Nogales High School - all grades were in the same building.
During these school years Roy did odd jobs such as paper routes and yard work. He remembers how he and his family always had a 3:00 Sunday lunch with his grandfather and Aunt Sarah. This lunch was always pot roast with "Floating Island" pudding for dessert. Sarah did all the cooking on a wooden stove which was located in a small kitchen. He would also be sent off to visit his aunt and uncle, William and Isabelle Meredith, in Douglas. He would get very homesick and Isabelle would rock him. They would all sit on the front porch an watch the lighting storms shift across the Arizona desert.
During all of his school years Roy was very active in all the various activities offered - especially sports. He was starting center for the varsity football team and captain of the basketball squad. The 1929 "Adobe" (annual of Nogales High School) shows the following: Orchestra '26, 27','28; Vice-President Glee Club '29; Student Body Secretary '29; Basketball '29; Southern Arizona Music Contest '29; Football '28; Purple Towers '28; Basketball Captain '29; Board of Control '29; "N" Club '29. The basketball review goes on to say: "Roy has the destination of being about the second best back guard in the Southern Conference. No matter if Roy was on his back flat on the floor or up in the air, he had his hand or hands on the ball when it was near the basket".
But Roy was not much for the social life and rarely had any sort of interest in dating. There were functions where he pretty much had to make an appearence but to say he was unhappy was uphappy would be an understatement. He would show up but apparentely was never interested in what was happening.
During his high school years he worked at many different jobs as his father did not want him to take a "standard" job; he did not want to be bothered with substitutes, etc. if the family decided to take a trip. These "trips" were usually motor vehicle trips to visit his grandmother, Martha Annie, and other relatives in Los Angeles such as his aunt, Celeste Marleau and family. The usual route was to come across to California at Yuma and then on up the state. But Roy Sr. liked to try out all the Colorado River crossings so Blythe and Needles were also used. These adventures usually took about three or more days and many areas had no roads of any kind, especially across the desert. The entire family would make this trip and upon occasion so would a dog and the like. The river crossing was always a bit of an unknown as more than likely the bridge might be washed out - usually happening at Blythe. When this happened a ferry was usually rigged up to take the cars across - two at a time. Apparently they were not very stable affairs and there were some very anxious moments. In addition the lack of good roads created additional problems and on one occasion an oncoming vehicle ran them off a one way road in the Santa Ana (California) Canyon; it took them a day to get the car back on - camping alongside the road all along.
Roy graduated from Nogales High School in 1929 and drove his mother, brother and sister to Los Angeles that summer. His father could not make that part of the trip that year as he had to stay behind and work. The rest of the family (and the school principle) finally convinced Roy Sr that his son could do the trip safely and so was allowed to take the rest of the family across. Even though there were no problems Roy was but seventeen and was very surprised that he was allowed to do this. The family usually "camped" along the way when his father drove but this time they stayed in hotels, etc. That portion of the trip across the desert at Yuma (Arizona) was on the old "plank road" that later became legend.
That summer, his grandmother, Martha Annie Noon, was able to get him a job at the Hotel Del Coronado laundry, loading sheets, etc. in the machines. He always said that this was some of the hardest work he ever performed - physically taxing, hot and constantly moving around in water.
Roy then started at the University of Arizona, Tucson the first part of 1930. He pledged Kappa Sigma Fraternity and lived in their fraternity house for the short time he stayed there - never actually being initiated into the fraternity. He became very homesick and left the school during the Thanksgiving holidays, telling no one at the school. He went home to Nogales and never returned to school in Tucson.
The family moved to Coronado, California in 1930 as Roy Sr had accepted a job with the Caliente Race Track in Tijuana, Mexico, as cashier. It was to this new home that Roy Jr. came when he left the University at Tucson: He entered San Diego State Teachers College where he joined Etta Omega Delta fraternity.
In 1931 a new home was built for them on Alta Dena street in San Diego and Roy lived at home while attending San Diego State; driving to school daily in a new car he bought that same year - a yellow Chevrolet roadster with green wheels. He stayed at San Diego State for three years, working summers and weekends at the Caliente race track casino - driving himself across the border or go with his father. He would usually work the roulette table, for the most part, and performed the duties of a "check racker" - never becoming a dealer. He saw and met many, many movie stars, including Al Jolson and Rita Hayworth, during this time, as the race track and casino were popular during this period; some were good tippers and others very poor.
It was in 1931 that he met his future spouse, Betty Olding. It would appear that Roy and a friend were invited to a card (bridge) party that neither wanted to attend. They tried to get out of it by renting a boat at the Coronado Yacht Club and paddling across San Diego Bay. (How they were going to explain this course of action to his mother had not yet been determined but he felt something would come to him at the appropriate time.) But they got out into the middle of the bay, realized how far they had to go and turned back. When they returned home Roys mother told them they had to go on to the party which they very reluctantly did. However it was at this party that he met Betty and neither has looked back since.
It was also in March of 1931 that he made application for the Army Air Corps to become a cadet pilot. His request was accepted and he was sent to Rockwell Field, Coronado for examination. He did very well with all of the written portions of the exams but, unfortunately, failed the physical - depth perception was not acceptable.
In 1932 he made the college football team and thus was a member of the team that is known to have been the very first of all college teams to use aircraft as a means of transportation to participate in a football game. The San Diego team left at 2:00 in the afternoon aboard a fabric covered Stinson and landed after dark in Fresno. They went on to beat Fresno State that night and returned to San Diego the next day.
Roy left San Diego State in 1933 and transferred to the University of Southern California, pursuing a degree in pharmacy. He became associated with the professional pharmacal fraternity Phi Delta Ki and was soon elected their president. In exchange for room and board he also was house manager and always said how much trouble it was taking care of a house "full of drunks". Regardless he was successful and many of those same individuals stayed in school because of his efforts on their part. During this period he was also still working summers at the casino in Tijuana.
It should also be pointed that Roy tried out for the football team, on his own, at USC but was not accepted. However, he was selected for membership in the honorary service organizations - the "Trojan Squires" and the "Trojan Knights".
In 1935 he graduated from USC and accepted a job with Harmon Color. This job (research chemist) was a very desirable one and it was between he and another (recent graduate from Harvard). Both were interviewed by the President of the company, in Los Angeles, and Roy won out. His first assignment was the Ford exhibit at the Panama Exposition in San Diego - he was associated with the Ford Motor display because Harmon had very close ties with them at the time. He completed this job and was then sent back to New York where he worked in Brooklyn for one year.
On his first vacation he drove back to San Diego and was married to Betty Olding on the 26th of September 1936. Their honeymoon was the trip back to New York, something that took almost a month. They did not phone anyone, tell anyone their plans and all became very concerned. He overstayed his vacation for a very long period of time and he always wondered why he was not terminated for it - a question he was still asking himself when he retired thirty five years later.
In New York they established their first home on Long Island in what was a very exclusive area. It would appear that Betty would search out places to live while he went on to work - a situation that ended up putting them into a somewhat expensive area. She found a very fine home near an exclusive Country Club (Forest Hills) and signed a lease. The only problem with all of this was that the monthly rent was just about equal to Roys salary. It would appear that Betty had no idea what their income would be and had felt that as this is how her family had always lived they should continue to do so. This was a process that was to be repeated, in one form or another, again in their future but they both enjoyed it all immensely. He always said that one of the reasons he was later transferred back West was to get him out of that first lease (apparently the President of the company heard about the situation and tried to get them out of it).
Roy was transferred back to California in 1937 where he worked out of the San Francisco office. During this year he took a second job with "Ceasars Drug Store" at the corner of Army and South Mission; not as a pharmacist but just general retail clerical work. He was not a licensed pharmacist and could not legally do the work but when the regular pharmacist was terminated Roy was asked to fill in and he did so. He also tells how the owner was a heavy drinker and as thinks got progressively worse in the evening he would have to put this man to bed in the store room.
It was also in 1937 that he was in Los Angeles on a business trip where he was to make hotel arrangements, etc. for the president of his company. He set it all up at one of the finer hotels in the city and was there awaiting his arrival when he decided to spend some time in the bar. Another individual there thought he was somebody else, came up to him, introduced himself and invited him to his table. Roy told him that he had mistaken him for someone else and they both had a good laugh over the mixup. That individual was Clark Gable, the premier movie star of the era.
The following year their first child, Donald Roy, was born on 19 March and he was able to pay the expenses with the money earned from his drug store job. In 1939 he was again transferred back East - this time to Haledon, New Jersey. But, in 1941 he was sent back to San Franciso and this time it was to stay. They bought a home in Hillsdale and on 4 May their second child, James Meredith, was born in San Mateo.
Roy was mowing his front yard (in Hillsdale) when Pearl Harbor was attacked and World War II began. He tried to join the armed service(s) but was rejected due to the demands of his family. Although he was still employed by Harmon Color they soon had very little to sell as the war effort took virtually all of the company's product. In order to support his family he took a second job with the Naval shipyard in Alameda - this effort taking up his evenings and nights. During these years he would get home literally "in the middle of the night" and would get about three or four hours sleep before getting up and heading for San Francisco to work days for Harmon. He would leave Harmon, change clothes in the car and report to work at the shipyard - starting the cycle all over again.
One good thing about all this was that he was given priority to buy a new automobile which he did, a Ford sedan, and thus became the envy of his neighborhood. As he was carrying four passengers to and from work daily he was also able to get priority gas rationing coupons - a situation which also allowed him to give many other friends rides to their work; a thing he tried to do as often as possible. But his hours did cause some sleepless nights and on one night he fell asleep in the car, loosing control and hitting a parked car owned by a doctor. Fortunately there were no injuries and the car was repairable. He was able to get a meal, upon occasion, before going home (at 1:00 in the morning) and this was usually done at a "hash house" on the corner of Army and Mission - always said that this was some of the best food he had ever eaten.
His first job at the shipyard was in the personnel office but it soon became evident that the pay was low and there was a much higher salary to be made working on the ships themselves. Consequently he switched over and became a Steamfitter; starting out in a helper position and a short time later becoming a Journeyman. After a bit he made friends with the "Pipe Maintenance" personnel and was asked to become a "Journeyman Pipe Maintenance" employee. In this position he increased his income even more substantially but the responsibility was much greater as he had to be able to diagnose and repair virtually any pipe installed on a ship.
It could also be dangerous as he narrowly escaped injury, if not death, when a 2x12 beam fell and hit him on the chest. No serious problems resulted as he saw the beam start to fall and was able to avoid the worst, but, it was a very anxious time indeed.
On 14 November 1943 Roy and Betty's third, and last, child, Dana Anne, was born in San Mateo.
After the war the overall situation became much better and life became stable again. The family moved several times and eventually ended up in Los Altos (California) where he built a new home - from scratch and by himself, hiring laborers to help him when necessary. During all of this he continued to commute daily to San Francisco for his work with Harmon. The new home was completed in November 1948 and they lived here for about two years. The family moved when it became apparent that the expenses associated with the house were just too great - it might be said that he "overbuilt for his needs".
Roy spent the next years commuting to his job in San Francisco and also taking on many projects in his own community of Los Altos. He was very active in his local Episcopal church and also served as Scoutmaster for some twelve years. He moved to Fallbrook in 1967 after being transferred to Los Angeles to head up sales there for Harmon Color. He started out driving this (Fallbrook to Los Angeles) on a daily basis but it soon got to be to much and after a great deal of thought he elected for retirement. This freed him up to do many things he had always wanted to get involved in. One of these was community activities and in 1970 he was elected to head up the Fallbrook Chamber of Commerce, a position he became very heavily involved in. He was responsible for many special projects around town and became well known in the area for his public relation efforts on the part of Fallbrook as well as his unflagging energy in getting people behind their town. Because of him Fallbrook became well known indeed and people began to "discover" the area.
In September of 1973, still not satisfied with retirement, Roy joined the Fallbrook Fire Department in their weed abatement program. Not long after joining he started several projects and he soon ended up as head of fire prevention as a fire Marshall. His efforts led to the old "Scout Hut" being named in his honor as he continued to try and make Fallbrook the vibrant community it is today.
He passed away at 11:47 on the morning of the 14th of April 2005 at his home in Vista, California. Roy had a very basic integrity that was always recognized by others. He had a great belief that life was always good no matter how hard it might become. He believed that living life with honor had great value and pursuing life with courage and service to others is always the worthwhile path to follow.
Surviving are three children, son Donald Roy Noon of Vista, daughter Dana Anne Montgomery of Vista and son James Meredith Noon of Gainesville, Georgia; grandchildren Meredith Noon of Vista, Lyn Wagner of Aguanga, and Dr. Brad Noon and Brent Noon of Gainesville and a great grandchild, Murphy Davin Smith of Vista.
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