We knew Roy \u201cDuane\u201d Noel would be special, as he was the very first baby born Jan. 1, 1944, in Laurel. He was the second child of Ashley and Kate Noel. He grew up and was schooled in Laurel where he was an active participant in all the school sports. Camping, hunting and fishing (and chasing the wily morel) with the Quinns, Prices, Hills, Hornings, Noels and Birklands were a large part of his early life.<\/p>\n
He graduated from high school in 1962 and enlisted in the U.S. Air Force where he attained a high clearance security level during his six-year enlistment. It was during his military time in Greece and Taiwan that he discovered his lifelong love of wine, women and song and his passion for life. Upon his discharge, he spent a couple of years in Taipei, Taiwan, working with an Air Force friend building a large catamaran with the intention of offering world cruises to well-to-do clients. After this venture faltered, he returned to Montana and enrolled at Eastern Montana College, now MSU-Billings. During his college years he came back into the lives of his brother, Brent, and his wife and kids; and his sister, Barb, her husband Tom Kress, and their kids. It was at this time that he met Bob Strand, his lifelong friend, and his wife and kids. He took great pleasure in absolutely traumatizing his young nieces, nephews and friends\u2019 children, all of which only made them love and cherish him even more.<\/p>\n
He graduated from Eastern with a BS in biology and furthered his studies by enrolling at MSU-Bozeman where he earned his master\u2019s degree in soils science under the tutelage of Dr. Hayden Ferguson. With degree in hand and empty pockets, he moved to Helena where he worked for the State of Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation. During this time, he met and married Beth Hilger of Wolf Creek. They lived for a time on Beth\u2019s family\u2019s ranch, the Circle 2, at Wolf Creek. While there, he completed his master\u2019s thesis and went into business with Tom Wing where they formed Resource Engineers and Associates. Duane also worked closely with WESTECH in Helena for over 30 years. Beth\u2019s parents deeded them some acreage on the Dearborn River where they designed and helped build their own log home. All the logs were peeled by hand as Beth and Duane were very adept at inviting people out to fish the Dearborn and peel logs while resting. After living there for seven years, they moved to Helena where Duane continued his contracting business (Grass-Land Inc.) while maintaining relationships with WESTECH and other local environmental and engineering firms. Duane and Beth started a sod farm business, which they operated until Quinn, their youngest son, graduated from Capital High. After that they subdivided the sod farm and created a real estate development under the Grass-Land Inc. logo.<\/p>\n
Duane avidly followed his sons athletic careers, coaching for several years when they were younger. Both boys were standout football players at Capital High and Kyler went on to play for the University of Montana Grizzlies. His youngest son, Quinn, will graduate from MSU-Bozeman this spring.<\/p>\n
Duane had a passion for life and lived it to the fullest. He played pick-up basketball beyond the age of reasonable. He loved fishing, hunting, scuba diving and backpacking. He played tennis with his friend Chris Phelps until shortly before his death. He totally loved playing guitar and singing with Bob at the many unremembered joints and house parties over the years. He was intense and competitive in any pursuit and yet humble to a fault. He has left a large void in the lives of many and will be sorely missed.<\/p>\n
He is survived by his wife, Beth (Hilger); two sons, Kyler Brenton and Quinn Conner; a brother, Brent and sister, Barbara (Tom) Kress, and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins.<\/p>\n
In lieu of flowers, donations will be accepted by the family for the placement of a bench along the Yellowstone River and a gift to the Tennis Center in Helena. The family would also like to request that blood be donated in Duane\u2019s name.<\/p>\n","photo":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/1109546.jpg","youtube_video_url":"","family_email":"","family_first_name":"","family_last_name":"","event_title5":"","event_date5":"","start_time5":"","end_time5":"","location5":"","address5":"","city5":"","state5":"","zipcode5":"","event_title6":"","event_date":"","start_time6":"","end_time6":"","location6":"","address6":"","city6":"","state6":"","zipcode6":"","event_title7":"","event_date7":"","start_time7":"","end_time7":"","location7":"","address7":"","city7":"","state7":"","zipcode7":"","event_title8":"","event_date8":"","start_time8":"","end_time8":"","location8":"","address8":"","city8":"","state8":"","zipcode8":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/case\/23298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/case"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/case"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}