Ray Noel was one of those teachers who sticks with you.
For his high school math class at Handsworth Secondary, he would eagerly get his students to score the basketball games in order to apply their numerical skills to the complexities of turnovers, jump shots, and double dribbles.
As the yearbook club's teacher liaison, he was known to wander the corridors, taking candid photos of school events. And Ray was a near constant presence at the old Empire Stadium, decked out in Handsworth blue and gold as he lent his large voice in support of the football team.
His classroom was a hub of activity for extracurriculars as well – from student council and the school newspaper, to the Political Action Club and more. Ray was energetic and compassionate, creative and caring. He was one of those guys who was always getting involved in some aspect of student and school life and, in the process, making it that much better for everyone.
Even if Ray didn’t teach you in the classroom directly, his dynamic presence made going to Handsworth in the early 1970s a little more fun and a lot more memorable, according to former students and colleagues.
His youngest daughter, however, has few memories of her own.
Danielle Noel was just three years old when Ray died suddenly of a heart attack In the summer of 1973. He was 36 years old. Although Ray and his wife had six kids, as the second youngest, Danielle never got to know him – not really.
“I have some vague memories. He took my younger brother and I to visit his family in Quebec shortly before he passed away,” says Danielle, now 50 and living in Maple Ridge. “Most of my memories are tied to photographs.”
And just recently, Danielle learned there were some great memories tied to a pile of sketches as well.
It’s been a challenging and at times illuminating year for Danielle. Earlier this year, after years of caring for her mother in North Vancouver, Danielle had to help make the decision to move her mom into long-term care as her Alzheimer’s progressed.
While getting the house in order and going through her mom’s lifetime of belongings, Danielle came across a keepsake package of large sketches that had belonged to her father from his Handsworth days. She was surprised to see herself and her younger brother as fresh-faced toddlers staring back at her in the almost 50-year-old pages.
“Imagine what it’s like to open up a roll of papers of your three-year-old self? Sheet after sheet after sheet. There was about a dozen of them,” says Danielle, adding she was overcome with emotion and suddenly wanted to know more about the sketches’ backstory. “It just kind of nagged at me.”
SKETCH SHOW
Danielle connected online with Pat Comey, the administrator of a Facebook page for Handsworth grads.
“He got back to me in 10 minutes,” notes Danielle. “He was like, ‘Your dad was one of our favourite teachers. That’s so cool.’”
Comey was on the case. There were a few dates on the sketches, and some were even signed and initialled. He combed through his Handsworth network from that era and connected with former art students.
As it turned out, Ray, ever the energetic people-pleaser willing to help out a colleague, had brought his two young children to a Grade 12 art class that was sketching live models. It was the 1970s, after all.
“Everybody knew him. He was the man about the school,” says Comey, adding he was eager to help Danielle as soon as she reached out. “Ray was kind of omnipresent. He was one of those gregarious guys who was always in the hall, always smiling, always saying hello.”
A reunion of sorts was organized. About a half-dozen people involved in this eccentric tale – Danielle, Comey, former students who had sketched Danielle that day, and the principal at the time – convened at Delany’s in Edgemont Village on Oct. 24.
There was no agenda. Danielle simply wanted to meet the people who had known her father better than she and who through paper and pencil had captured a moment in time.
“It’s helped me to add layers to that backstory,” says Danielle. “It was nice to hear that he was one of their favourite teachers. He always had a big smile on his face, and they remembered his thick accent.”
DRAWING TO A CLOSE
Pat Bell was Handsworth’s principal at the time of Ray’s death. He had hired Ray and the two had struck up a friendship. Bell was a pallbearer at Ray’s funeral that summer. Until their coffee shop rendezvous, he hadn’t seen Danielle in almost 50 years.
“He was so active at the school, he was in and out of the building all the time. He’d often have this wee girl with him – big bright eyes and beautiful smile,” recalls Bell, who retired from the North Vancouver School District in the mid-’90s. “I never did see Danielle again.”
Bell could see how much a meetup would mean to Danielle, and he was more than happy to reconnect with her last month, sharing his insights on the kind of man her father had been.
Bell notes that among his friend and colleague’s myriad good qualities, Ray was simply “the kind of teacher that you just dream about having in a school.”
Others agree. The Ray Noel Citizenship Award, worth $1,500, is presented annually to the school’s “top citizen” who exemplifies service to the school and community while showcasing a dynamic and energetic spirit – all traits of Ray’s – according to the school district.
While Ray’s classroom was known as a hub of activity, the man behind the activity was someone Danielle never really got to know while he was alive. Over the years, she’s been left to pick up the bits and pieces she can find through postcards, letters, stories and now, sketches.
Following her recent meetup with Handsworth alumni, she’s feeling a little more connected to the dad she never knew.
“Before my mom went into care I’d spent the last three-and-a-half years going through the gradual loss of her. She can’t share her memories anymore – with the Alzheimer’s-dementia, we’re losing her,” says Danielle. “This has felt like an opportunity for me to gain a little bit of my dad, while I’m losing my mom, through the help of other people.”
