Humans of the Noble Family

Carol Noble: “My dating experience before Ken? Uh, not very much. Most of the guys I knew were friends. I had one serious boyfriend that I’d call serious before I met Ken. 

Actually, I was introduced to Ken by a boyfriend (laughs). I was going with this guy and Ken was a friend of his and he was going through a divorce and he came to visit my boyfriend and I was there and that’s how I met him. I was like 22-23 and he came to where I was working¬–which was where my boyfriend and I met. We worked at the same place. Ken came to visit and then he–actually my boyfriend fixed Ken up with a friend of mine. And that didn’t work out. And I didn’t see him for I don’t even remember how long– maybe a year?

A year after I met him [Ken], he was officially divorced, I had broken up with my boyfriend. We ran into each other at this it’s called The Cherokee Teepee. It no longer exists–the building’s still there but the club isn’t. But it had a band and a bar, that sort of thing. We just happened to run into each other. We were at I guess what you’d call a night club for lack of a better word and listening to the band, having a couple drinks and he was there, and he remembered me, and he came over and we danced I think once. He wasn’t a very good dancer at all. And I head to the ladies’ room and when I came out he was there, and he wanted my phone number. And I didn’t have a piece of paper or a pen on me, so the phonebook was handy at the telephone booth that they had downstairs where the restrooms were. And I tore my phone number out of the telephone book and gave it to him–and he called me a couple days later. That’s when we started dating.

We went out to dinner, we went out to the drive-in, uh I think people nowadays go to like the mall to hang out and we never did anything like that. Movies, uh we’d have a couple of drinks. I took him out to supper once. For lobster. I took HIM out. I don’t know if that’s unusual nowadays or what, but he thought it was pretty cool.

We got married in ’73. I had just turned 23. On our wedding day, Ken was late. Lee was at the church waiting for him and I was home and I refused to go to the church until I knew he was there. And um he was like an hour late. And I went down–talk about a shaky start, right? I went to the church, he didn’t want anybody there, just parents. We got married and then we went to see my grandmother. She wanted to see my wedding dress. Then we went to the reception which was held in a hall that my parents were members of the club. It really didn’t have much for decorations. The building was in pretty bad shape. The ceiling was all watermarked from rain. Of course we were late so the caterer had the food sitting out and people were there. We didn’t have a DJ, we didn’t have a photographer…we just didn’t know what we were doing. I had no guidance from my mother because she never had anything like that. She was just thinking ‘money– the hall is free’. My aunt made our wedding cake. It was in the winter, but I loved daisies–my hippie thing– so we had daisies on our cake. It was just awful. I have my dress but it’s in the attic¬–but I made it myself. It wasn’t fancy or anything, it was just white eyelet material over cotton. The sleeves were long and puffy, and it had like a, almost like a Juliet kind of sleeve where it was tight with ribbon. It was empire waist and blue ribbon because I wanted a boy. So, I had a blue ribbon around my empire waist and a blue ribbon in my hair. I didn’t even think to make a floral wreath or anything like that which is something I would’ve liked to have thought of. It would have been really pretty. I had long, long hair. I didn’t do anything with it I just washed it and that was it. I didn’t put it up and I didn’t have a lot of makeup–just simple makeup. The only money we had to spend on the reception was money that I had gotten from selling my car. I sold my car and when I paid off the loan, I paid it back early enough that I got like $500 back. We used that money to pay for the reception and it was a snowstorm the day before. For our honeymoon we went to Pizza Hut and then to our apartment in Dover, NH. At the time I didn’t think about it. I didn’t think ‘oh my god we don’t have a photographer. Oh my god now we’re having cold sandwiches for dinner. Our honeymoon was going to Pizza Hut’. I didn’t think about it then it just didn’t seem to matter to me at the time. But thinking back, some of the weddings I have been to and had the opportunity to see how things are done, I realize what a mess my wedding was.  

After marriage and children, it was more serious, more responsibility, more trust building. We had to really work on trusting each other. And getting serious about life. Dating is fun and you don’t–there’s no commitment necessarily but with marriage it’s a serious commitment. And because we didn’t date that long before we got married, we had to learn fast. We had to learn about each other fast–we didn’t really know each other well. I think we started dating like April or May and we were married in December. Well, I was expecting. Kraig was everything I ever wanted, and I was very happy to find out I was with child and I really didn’t care whether Ken married me or not. I was gonna have this baby. If I had to do it myself I was going to. But we worked on our relationship and it worked out. I think we were pretty good parents considering how much time we had to get to know each other before. You know, we had another person to take care of. 

My advice is: try to get to know each other better because it is a big commitment. It seems like lately people just you know are married for five years and then they call it quits. They miss their freedom and I just– I would never, never even consider divorce. No matter what. It’s for better or for worse. I think people who get married need to take that more seriously. Expect surprises, because you’re gonna get them–as far as finances go, relationships within the family, dynamics change. But the “for better for worse” thing really needs to be reconsidered. Taken more seriously. It’s not a game.” 

Kenneth Noble: “My first marriage I lived in Amesbury, Mass. I had married a high school sweetheart Elizabeth Bernard and that lasted two years. But I was in the service and I was gone all the time and we were both young. We married when we were 20 and separation just isn’t good when you’re really young. We just, you know, made a mutual agreement to split. 

The first time we met, Carol and I met through a mutual friend. After that we made our first date. I met her at the Cherokee Teepee probably a year or two after the first time I met her. The Cherokee Teepee was a bar really. I called her that night about 12:30 or so. We’ve been married so long I forgot what it was like back then.

I was late. I was real late. I was taking my mother and father and youngest brother Pete to the wedding and I slammed the door on my brother Pete’s hand. That was the thing I remember the most because that was the most dramatic. We had to make sure he was alright and that his fingers moved. We got there and got married. I think we did (laughs). It was just a normal wedding. The thing that sticks out in my mind: that night, because we had an apartment in New Hampshire we had already set up, we went out to Pizza Hut. We went to Pizza Hut in Dover. I’ll always remember that. And that’s all I remember. Rochester Arms was the name of it [the apartment]. Which was really on a road that goes from Dover to Rochester. It was right on the border but was still in Dover. It’s completely changed now. Doesn’t even look like it anymore. We moved to the Waterboro house in 1978. September of ’78. 

I’d say commitment. I guess that’s the word I’d use. That’s what you have. You have commitment. You have commitment to marriage, commitment to your kids. 

Kris getting his teeth busted out. He got hit in the face that’s why he’s got a dead tooth now. It’s all filled, we got it all taken care of. That was pretty dramatic. And Kraig finding out his back–he had a problem with his back during football. That was pretty dramatic. Kraig was pretty disappointed that he couldn’t play, but he ended up playing. He was more worried about disappointing me and I was more worried about him than playing football. Kraig is a very special person. He’s a great man. I never played football or anything. I played track in high school. When the boys got older in high school, I would drop them off to school and went to work. 

We were very lucky we had two good boys. Everyone said what good parents Carol and I were–we did the best we thought. We didn’t want to raise our sons how we were raised…The way I was raised and the way I raised my boys was totally opposite. That generation thought they brought you into world, so you owe them everything. I brought sons into the world so I’ll do everything I can for them for the rest of my life- they’re my responsibility. I didn’t want them to be thankful. Truly opposite from old school parenting. My brothers have used my example. How you’d want to be treated, put that into perspective– how would I want to be treated? Do it that way.

I don’t know. I guess, always try to give more than you want, than you take–try to give more. Try to do more for everybody than you’d want done for yourself. And don’t expect anything in return.”

Kraig Noble: “I believe they met through mutual friends–I know they weren’t together long, conceived me, got married a few months later, I was born. 

I’d say my father would have been the more flirty one if he was trying to joke around. Other than that, there wasn’t a ton of affection around us you know? I don’t know if that was just with how they were, but there wasn’t a ton of affection around us. I mean we were always and still are the most important things in their lives regardless of any¬¬¬ differences. Especially early they did a really good job of hiding their differences because they were a dedicated team in providing for me and my brother.

Their relationship was just devoted and committed parents. They worked as a team to raise my brother and I as best as they could. We never had a want, really. I mean, obviously there’s always things you want as a kid but, certainly never had a need that wasn’t met. You know really, love especially. There was an abundance of that always from both. Never, never doubted that ever. Commitment and dedication. My father worked basically 6 days a week, my mother stayed home and raised us for most of it. She had jobs here and there but for the most part stayed home with us. Other than visiting family, we took a few special big trips that will always stick in my mind. The trip to Washington, D.C. that we took, that was great. The trip to Disney World. 

The best word to describe them–or the best words–committed. That, and would definitely be devoted. Really they¬–I’m sure things weren’t easy. Like I said dad worked a lot and mom, her whole life revolved around me and my brother, so they were completely devoted and committed regardless of their differences or whatnot. I will say one thing you know, especially early on when we were young, no matter how mad they probably would have been at each other, it was–¬ I don’t really recall them especially early on when we were young, ever saying a bad word about each other. Even as I’m older, especially. You know, dad was usually pretty committed to always having my mother shown in the best light possible. I guess that’s probably the old school, protecting husband. Obviously my brother and I misbehaved as kids. If the punishment my mother served up wasn’t enough, there was always that looming threat that if it upset my mother, my father wasn’t going to be too impressed either and the repercussions came after that.

When you feel like you have the best parents in the world, the only thing you can do is do your best and at try to match–at least try to match them. So, that is an easy model to follow. It worked for how I feel as an adult and person, so I would hope that it translates to how it makes my kids feel as a father. 

Really if you find somebody you love and you commit to creating a family with them, they obviously are important enough to make your partner a priority. Make sure that they know without a doubt you love them to pieces. Your family and your spouse are the most important people in your lives so really it’s kind of a simple thing. If you do truly love whoever you chose to partner up with, show them.”