Saving Lives in Service and Beyond

By Laurel Schlegel

Edmond F. Noel

August 3, 1916- December 29, 1986

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Dr. Edmond F. Noel [31]

As an African American man growing up in the first half of the twentieth century, Edmond Forrest Noel faced obstacles that his white peers could never understand. Growing up in Mississippi and attending medical school in the South, Edmond’s journey was anything but easy. Graduating at the top of his class, Edmond would defy expectations and become an inspiring young doctor. Serving during World War II as a Captain in the U.S. Army, Edward would use his education and passion for medicine to save many lives. He would continue to break barriers even after the war when he moved to Colorado and became the first African American to be granted hospital privileges in the city of Denver.[1]

Noel was born in Meridian, Mississippi on August 3, 1916 to Andrew Noel and Susie Noel.[2] His older sister Myrtle had been born two years before.[3] By the time Edmond was 14 years old, Andrew and Susie had four more children. They moved to Jackson, the capital of Mississippi.[4] His family encouraged his intellectual nature and nurtured his academic spirit.[5]

Mississippi in the 1920s was anything but a safe and constructive place for a black man to grow up. Mississippi is haunted by its deep history of racism and violence against African Americans. Only a year before Edward was born, the Ku Klux Klan reemerged after it was disbanded thirty years prior due to Reconstruction Era backlash against the group.[6] After the release of the film Birth of a Nation in 1915, a highly racist film depicting the Ku Klux Klan as “saving” a young white girl from a supposedly violent young black man, the Ku Klux Klan was almost instantly revived.[7] The “second Klan” reached a peak in the early 1920s in the South, where it was notably more violent than anywhere else in the country.[8] Between the years of 1892 to 1968, 539 African-Americans were lynched in Mississippi, the most out of any state in the US.[9]

Despite all odds, Edmond graduated from high school. Not only was he able to accomplish that but he also attended Alcorn State College, a Historically Black College (HBCU) in Alcorn Mississippi.[10] From there he went on to attend Meharry Medical College, an HBCU in Nashville, Tennessee.[11] While he was there, he met Rachel Bassette who was earning a master’s degree in sociology at Fisk University- also an HBCU in Nashville.[12] Rachel was originally from Hampton, Virginia and, like Edmond, was raised in the South, enduring the discrimination and rampant violence towards African Americans there. Edmond graduated as president of his class in 1941.[13]

After medical school, Edmond began his residency at Homer G. Phillips Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri. His path to earning his medical license took a brief pause when he was drafted into the United States military.[14] He left his residency early in June of 1942 to join the Army.[15] Right before deploying, however, he and Rachel got married.[16]

Edmond served in a Mobile Army surgical hospital MASH unit in the Pacific Theatre of World War II.[17] These units were designed to keep up with combat units to provide immediate medical care to soldiers. MASH units have been deployed in every major conflict since World War II when the concept was first utilized.[18] The transport of patients to care units was too time consuming and lost many lives in the process, leading to the necessity and invention of MASH units. Especially in the Pacific where harsh jungle and difficult terrain made medical transport nearly impossible, MASH units were essential to saving the lives of so many young men. With expectations to work in the middle of battle and under harsh fire, their conditions were anything but easy. [19] Performing surgery is difficult and strenuous on its own, but to do so under the pressure and intensity of combat is a remarkable feat. The experiences of the surgeons assigned to MASH units have oftentimes led to important discoveries in trauma care not only in the battlefield but for civilians at home as well. [20] Edmond received a Bronze Star for his service in the MASH unit in December of 1945 and earned the rank of Captain.[21]

Dr. Edmond Noel at his private practice medical office in Denver, circa the 1950s. [32]

After his service, Edmond got right back to his medicine and finished up his residency in St. Louis. He and Angela had their first child in 1946, a son they named Edmond “Buddy” Noel Jr. With limited options for people of color trying to advance their careers, Rachel and Edmond moved the family to Denver, Colorado. In 1949 Edmond was hired by Rose Medical Center and became the first African American to be granted privileges as a physician in Denver.[22]

Rose Medical Center was created after World War II by Jess Kortz, a Jewish physician hoping to create a hospital free of discrimination that would allow doctors from diverse backgrounds the chance to do what they loved.[23] It was the only hospital in Denver, and probably many cities across the country, for that matter, that would grant Noel privileges to practice medicine. [24] In his obituary, his friend Joe Eddy Roy Sr. remembers of Noel that “almost everyone in the black community went to see him. He was a medical philosopher. If you didn't take your medicine or follow his advice, he would use a parable or joke to make you s[aw] the error of your way.”[25]

When Rachel and Edmond moved into their first home in Denver, they were the second African American family to live in their new neighborhood.[26] In his first year living there, the couple had a daughter named Angela. Their expanding family brought about the need for a home expansion and the family moved into a new neighborhood in which they were the first black family in the neighborhood.

Rachel Noel, wife of Edmond Noel, at a Denver Public Schools Board Meeting. [33]

While living in Denver, Rachel became increasingly frustrated by the disparities in schooling that her children experienced due to segregation. She became very involved in the fight for equality in education in Denver, even getting elected onto the board of Denver Public Schools in 1965. She was the first Black woman to be elected. In 1968, she proposed the Noel Resolution, which “demanded nothing less than a comprehensive plan for the integration of Denver Public Schools.” [27] It would pass 5-2.

Edmond was incredibly active in the Denver community as well. He served on the Board of Directors of Colorado Blue Cross and Blue Shield for 20 years and was active in the Central Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). As a member of the NAACP Edmond was able to help work towards the group’s goal of gaining political, educational, social, and economic equality for Black people across the country.[28] He was also a part of Denver’s Owl Club, a group of African American men focused on promoting brotherhood amongst the African American men in Denver by participating in various community service initiatives.[29] Edmond was also a part of the Mile High Medical Society and the Glenarm branch of the YMCA. He enjoyed golfing in his free time and was a member of the East Denver Golf Club as well as a vice president of Nomads, a national association of golf enthusiasts.[30]

As a doctor, Noel was able to serve his country not only on the battlefield but for the rest of his life. His service and involvement in the Denver community after the war are remarkable in themselves, let alone the fact that he was able to accomplish his remarkable career despite the many obstacles he faced based upon his skin color. His determination and resilience are no doubt worth remembering.

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Footnotes ↓

[1] Kevin Simpson, “Denver’s Rose Medical Center, celebrating 70 years, created a culture that countered post-war discrimination,” Colorado Sun, November 18, 2019. https://coloradosun.com/2019/11/18/rose-medical-center-70th-anniversary/.

[2] “1920 United States Federal Census,” database, Ancestry.com (accessed July, 2020) entry for Edmond Noel.

[3] “1920 United States Federal Census.”

[4] “1930 United States Federal Census,” database, Ancestry.com (accessed July, 2020) entry for Edmond Noel.

[5] Mark Obmascik, “Community leader Dr. E.F. Noel Sr. dies,” Denver Post, December 31, 1986, https://infoweb-newsbank-com.du.idm.oclc.org/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&t=favorite%3ADPCC%21Denver%2BPost%2BCollection%2Bwith%2BHistorical%2BArchives&sort=YMD_date%3AD&maxresults=20&f=advanced&val-base-0=Noel&fld-base-0=alltext&bln-base-1=and&val-base-1=December%2031%2C%201986&fld-base-1=YMD_date&docref=image/v2%3A12C7581AC4BD0728%40WHNPX-1694EE972EBCABDF%402446796-1694E5AB3831B563%408-1694E5AB3831B563%40.

[6] Amy Louise Wood, “Ku Klux Klan,” Mississippi Encyclopedia, https://mississippiencyclopedia.org/entries/ku-klux-klan/.

[7] Alexis Clark, “How ‘The Birth of a Nation’ Revived the Ku Klux Klan,” History.com, https://www.history.com/news/kkk-birth-of-a-nation-film.

[8] Clark, “How ‘The Birth of a Nation’ Revived the Ku Klux Klan.”

[9] Deon T. Jones, “There is the South. Then, There is Mississippi,” New America, https://context.newamerica.org/there-is-the-south-then-there-is-mississippi-6cb154ee3843.

[10] Obmascik, “Community leader Dr. E.F. Noel Sr. dies.”

[11] Meharry Medical College - “Our History,” https://home.mmc.edu/.

[12] Natasha Gardner, “The Legacy of Denver’s Forced School Busing Era,” 5280, https://www.5280.com/2018/05/the-legacy-of-denvers-forced-school-busing-era/, and Fisk University, “Who We Are,” https://www.fisk.edu/about/learn-more-about-fisk-university/.

[13] Obmascik, “Community leader Dr. E.F. Noel Sr. dies.”

[14] Simpson, “Denver’s Rose Medical Center.”

[15] “U.S. WWII Draft Cards Young Men,” database, Ancestry.com (accessed July, 2020) entry for Edmond Forrest Noel.

[16] “Arizona, County Marriage Records, 1865-1972 ,” database, Ancestry.com (accessed July, 2020) entry for St. Edmond F. Noel.

[17] Simpson, “Denver’s Rose Medical Center.”

[18] Maj. Booker King, MD, and Col. Ismail Jatoi, MD, “The Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH): A Military and Surgical Legacy,” Journal of the National Medical Association, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2569328/pdf/jnma00186-0014.pdf.

[19] CPT Scott C. Woodward, MS USA, “The Story of the Mobile Army Surgical Hospital,” Military Medicine, Vol. 168, July 2003.

[20] King and Jatoi, “The Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH).”

[21] Obmascik, “Community leader Dr. E.F. Noel Sr. dies.”

[22] Simpson, “Denvers Rose Medical Center.”

[23] Kathy Walsh, “‘Open to All’: Rose Medical Center Celebrates 70 Years, CBS Denver, November 25, 2019, https://denver.cbslocal.com/2019/11/25/rose-medical-center-health-one-world-war-two/.

[24] Gardner, “The Legacy of Denver’s Forced School Busing Era.”

[25] Obmascik, “Community leader Dr. E.F. Noel Sr. dies.”

[26] Gardner, “The Legacy of Denver’s Forced School Busing Era.”

[27] Ibid.

[28] “About the NAACP,” https://www.naacp.org/about-us/.

[29] Jlewis, “The Owl Club of Denver,” Denver Public Library, https://history.denverlibrary.org/news/owl-club-denver.

[30]Obmascik, “Community leader Dr. E.F. Noel Sr. dies.”

[31] “Denver’s Rose Medical Center, celebrating 70 years, created a culture that countered post-war discrimination,” Colorado Sun, November 18, 2019, https://coloradosun.com/2019/11/18/rose-medical-center-70th-anniversary/.

[32] “Denver’s Rose Medical Center, celebrating 70 years, created a culture that countered post-war discrimination,” Colorado Sun, November 18, 2019. https://coloradosun.com/2019/11/18/rose-medical-center-70th-anniversary/

[33] “Rachel Noel,” Denver Public Library, https://history.denverlibrary.org/colorado-biographies/rachel-noel-1918-2008.

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