Obituary of Clifford R. Noll, Jr.
Clifford R. Noll, Jr., WWII veteran
Eastford - Clifford R. Noll, Jr., 85, died Nov. 9, 2008 at home after a long illness. Born Dec. 20, 1922 in Providence, R.I., he was the son of Clifford R. Noll, Sr. and Hope Goldey Noll.
While studying in the science library as a freshman at Brown University, Cliff heard a radio announcement of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Shortly after, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy. He continued as a Brown student in a wartime accelerated program until March 1944 when he was required to leave college to receive special training and be put on active duty. Because of his excellent academic record he received his bachelor's degree in biological science in June 1944 without completing the program.
Clifford served on board a salvage vessel, the U.S.S. Grasp, in the Pacific, mainly in the Philippine Islands. He was commissioned Ensign in February 1944 and Lieutenant Jr. Grade in July 1945. After the war Cliff decided he wanted to continue his education at the graduate level with the object of becoming a college professor. He studied at the University of Illinois where he met and married Dagmar Christensen. They moved to Madison, Wisconsin where, in 1952, he received a Ph. D. in biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin. After teaching in several colleges in the eastern United States, he settled his family in an old house on 40 acres of former farmland, which he had purchased in 1946 in Eastford, Conn. He taught for 24 years at Greater Hartford Community College, mainly teaching anatomy and physiology to nursing students.
Cliff's political activism included participation in the civil rights movement of the 1960s, and opposition to the McCarthyism of the 1950s, nuclear proliferation, and the Viet Nam War. Cliff was active in civic affairs in Eastford, serving on the board of education for 24 years as well as Inland-Wetlands and Planning Commissions and the Democratic Town Committee. He also was a member of the Board of Trustees for Woodstock Academy for 13 years. He had great concern for civil liberties and the environment. He was active in the CCLU and the CCAG. Cliff was convinced of the problem of global warming at least as early as the 1980s. He, with others, especially members of CCAG, were instrumental in stopping I-84 from going through eastern Connecticut and the Rhode Island reservoirs to Providence.
Besides Dagmar, his wife of 59 years, he leaves his daughter Rebecca Busby of Eastford and her husband William Busby, son Bradford Noll and wife Lynne of Beverly, Mass, and son Edmund Noll and wife Sophanna of Eastford, grandchildren Dagmar S. Noll of Willimantic, Jessica Stebbins and husband Geoffrey Stebbins of Los Angeles, Karl Noll of Beverly and Kamaria Busby of Ann Arbor, Mich.
A memorial service will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Nov. 22 at the Unitarian Universalist Meeting House in Brooklyn, Conn. In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to Alzheimer's Association, 225 N. Michigan Ave., Fl 17, Chicago, IL 60601-7633. Smith & Walker Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. www.smithandwalkerfh.com
