Just received an e-mail that Noble Waite passed away this morning. I have known Noble for as long as I can remember. He was in the ward my family moved to when we moved from San Gabriel to Fountain Valley in 1970. This was the Huntington Beach Fourth Ward then. Even as a little toddler it was hard for me to not be aware of his commanding yet jovial presence. Later on my brother Erich married his daughter Karen, so that created a little bit of a family connection between us. I didn't have much contact with him after that but Jesse Quesada asked if I could interview Noble for this HB First Ward blog and Noble was glad to have me over. Not only were we able to catch up on our family connection but I was able to talk with him for almost two hours about his time in the military in World War II and his subsequent move to Huntington Beach and seeing the phenomenal growth of the Church here over the decades.
I might be able to post the recordings of our conversation later but things got a little bit patchy because my throat was getting dry so sometimes I would stop the recording and he didn't know that he wasn't being recorded anymore so he would go right on talking about the old days when people like Oscar W. McConkie (father of Bruce) was the mission president in the area or when LeGrand Richards was the stake president. He remembered the history very well and would either confirm facts I knew about it or correct misunderstandings I had about it. In addition to his treasure trove of a memory he also had kept a massive Book of Remembrance over the years and allowed me to take some photos, many of which will be of interest to members of our ward (you can click on any image to view a larger version):
On this Memorial Day Weekend let us remember Noble and those like him who fought and risked their lives (and Noble did risk his) to preserve our liberties.
UPDATE: Click here to read Noble's obituary on The Orange County Register website.
