Obituary of Edwin Austin Noble

On January 3, 2013. Dear husband for 64 years of Polly Noble and father of Bill from Colorado, Mary from San Antonio, Jonathan from Tucson and grandfather of Andrea Stuen of Idaho. Ned was born in Bethel, Vermont on December 15, 1922, to Mary and John Noble. He had a lifelong interest in natural history and also a lifelong interest in sports. He enjoyed reading daily newspapers and later watching the news. While studying at Tufts University he was called to serve in the First Infantry Division of the Army.during World War II. He received two bronze stars for combat valor in the battlefield while fighting in the Ardennes and the Rhineland. He met Polly when he returned to Tufts after the war. He then studied at the University of New Mexico and later received his PhD in Geology from the University of Wyoming. He worked in the Exploration Division of the AEC on the Colorado Plateau and later in Argentina as a UN advisor to their uranium program. In the 1960s he became the North Dakota State Geologist and Professor and Chairman of the Geology Department at the University of North Dakota. In 1977 Ned returned to the USGS this time in Reston, VA, and from there to five years in Pakistan on a USAID energy resource program for which he received the Meritorious Service Award in 1991. A memorial service will be held in Reston for Ned in the Spring and interment will be in the family cemetery in Bethel, Vermont. Memorial gifts may be made tp any human rights or animal protection society in his name. To access an oral military history interview and interview go to http://www.vmi.edu/archives.aspx?id=10271 and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoMLBtXn10.