[NFBWATLK] Mark Noble

[Nightingale, Noel]

NFB of Washington,

I am sad to report that Mark Noble died yesterday, where he lived in Austin, Texas.  In the last couple decades, Mark was a president of the Greater Seattle Chapter and member of the NFB of Washington board of directors.  Mark also memorably served as the chair of the Department of Services for the Blind's state rehabilitation council where his leadership stirred DSB to change the unacceptable Orientation and Training Center student dorm that was rented from the Lions on S. Ferdinand Street in the Columbia city neighborhood in Seattle to rental apartments.  Mark had remarked at an SRC meeting that, if he had been a newly blinded OTC student and had to live in the dorm, he would have killed himself.
Dan Frye,  correct me if I am wrong, but I believe that Mark served on the DSB task force that you chaired whose recommendations caused a revamp of the OTC, from the residential housing to the classes to a requirement that new DSB staff members undergo significant sleep shade training at the OTC before starting their jobs.  Many of those changes have since been reversed, but there was a time when the OTC had what appeared to be a model program.

Mark was a charismatic member of our affiliate.  For one thing, Mark and his wife, Debbie who has since died, threw lively parties at their home for the chapter.   Mark could also make difficult situations easier with his tremendous sense of humor.

Mark died of pancreatic cancer.  Dan Frye was able to visit him in Austin a few weeks ago, and I hope that Dan will find time to share his memories of Mark with us as Mark served as a form of a big brother for Dan.

When Mark left Washington to work for the Social Security Administration in Texas, it was a real loss for our affiliate.

Noel