Section: Metro State News
Mrs. Rachel B. Noel passes away
Feb 4, 2008

Mrs. Rachel B. Noel and President Stephen Jordan shared a smile at last year’s Noel Professorship Community Event. Mrs. Noel died this morning at the age of 90.

Rachel B. Noel, 90, passed away in her sleep Monday, Feb. 4. She had been living with her daughter Angela Noel in Oakland, Calif.

Mrs. Noel was one of Denver’s most respected leaders, an outspoken advocate for equal opportunity for minority citizens and a true champion of equal access to education for all. She was the first African American elected to the Denver Public School Board and the first African American woman ever to serve elected office in Colorado. The Noel Resolution, which she presented to the DPS Board in 1968, led to the historic U.S. Supreme Court decision to address school segregation in Denver with school busing.

An associate professor of sociology and African American studies for 11 years at Metropolitan State College of Denver, Mrs. Noel helped found the Department of African American Studies, which she chaired from 1971 to 1980. Upon her retirement the College named Mrs. Noel an Associate Professor Emeritus.

Mrs. Noel’s impact on Metro State will continue to endure through the Rachel B. Noel Distinguished Visiting Professorship, which the College created in 1980 to honor her legacy at Metro State and in the Denver community. The professorship brings to the College renowned scholars and artists of distinction to conduct seminars, performances and lectures.

The 2008 Noel Professorship Community Event this evening will continue as planned at Shorter AME Church as a tribute to Mrs. Noel’s life. The 2008 Noel Professor is Al Young, poet laureate of California and a Woodrow Wilson Fellow. (To read more go to: http://www.mscd.edu/~collcom/artman/publish/noel_twv5013008.shtml.)

Among Mrs. Noel’s many accolades and achievements over the years are:

• Anti-Defamation League's Civil Rights Award in 2004
• Served on Mayor Wellington Webb's Black Advisory Committee; chaired Mayor Federico Peña's Black Advisory Committee
• Served on the Advisory Board of the United States Civil Rights Commission
• Named among Top 100 Citizens of the Century in a list compiled by the Rocky Mountain News in 2000
• Inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 1996
• Earned the Martin Luther King Jr. Humanitarian Award in 1990
• Served on the Chancellor's Advisory Committee for the Health Sciences at the University of Colorado, Boulder and Denver
• Served as Denver Housing Authority commissioner
• Was the first African American to serve on the University of Colorado Board of Regents (1976-1984); chaired the board for one year
• DPS Rachel B. Noel Middle School named for her

Mrs. Noel moved to California following last year’s Noel Community Event, which drew more than 500 people who came to honor her, including Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper and Denver Public Schools Superintendent Michael Bennet.

In his tribute, Metro State President Stephen Jordan said, “Forty years ago [Mrs. Noel’s] fierce integrity and courage shook a city’s racist educational structure to its core. She is universally credited with changing the way Denver students were educated.”

Believing that she would return to Denver each year for the event, Mrs. Noel told the audience, “I won’t say goodbye at all. I’ll just say, see you next year.”

In addition to her daughter, Mrs. Noel is survived by her son Edmond “Buddy” Noel, Esq., who is co-chair of The Rachel B. Noel Distinguished Visiting Professorship Endowment Committee; grandchildren Peter, Stephen, Rebecca , Sloane and Halisi; niece Katheryn Gavin, grandniece N. Jayne-Michelle Gavin and grandnephew James H. Gavin Jr.