Anderson, Noel M. (1916-2005)
ANDERSON, KACHEL, CHENOWITH
Posted By: Paul Nagy (email)
Date: 3/8/2010 at 23:51:18
Noel M. Anderson - Apr. 12, 1916 - Jan. 9, 2005
Noel M. Anderson, age 88, of Storm Lake, passed away on Sunday, January 9, 2005, in Sun City West, Arizona.
Noel Merrill Anderson was born April 12, 1916, in Cylinder, Iowa. The son of Norwegian and Swedish immigrants, he grew up on a farm with three brothers and two sisters.
After high school, he attended business college in Des Moines, Iowa, where he met Mary Kachel of Des Moines and they were married on June 21, 1941.
On the day after Pearl Harbor, Noel enlisted in the Army Air Corps. Upon completion of his flight training, he was sent to the South Pacific where he flew 181 missions, logged more than 2,000 hours of flight time, and was awarded the Air Medal with oak leaf clusters and the Distinguished Flying Cross with oak leaf clusters. In the closing days of the war, he was reassigned to the States where he served as a flight instructor.
After the war, he was offered a job with an airline, but opted to return to Iowa where he started a small business. That business, which became known as Merrill Manufacturing Company, moved to Storm Lake in 1957.
After serving as President and CEO of Merrill Manufacturing for 32 years, he retired in 1981, turning the business over to his younger son, Stephen. The holder of 12 national and international patents, Noel was elected to the Inventors’ Hall of Fame in 1983.
He was a member of the First Baptist Church, Jewel Masonic Lodge #309, and the Abu Bekar Shrine as well as the Elks Club of Storm Lake, Lake Creek Country Club, and Alta Country Club.
He was an avid pilot, fisherman, and golfer and achieved local notoriety in Sun City West when he scored holes-in-one (his second and third) on two different area courses in the same week.
Noel is survived by his wife of 63 years, Mary; and two children: Merrill and his wife, Dedra, of Highlands Ranch, Colorado, and Stephen and his wife, Jacqueline, of Storm Lake. He is also survived by seven grandchildren: Matt of Wilmar, Minnesota; Joel, a student at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa; Holly, a student of Storm Lake High School; Nathan and his wife Karli of Denver, Colorado; Nicholas, also of Denver, Colorado; Whitney of Los Angeles, California; and Mitchell, a student at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado; and by a brother, Marlowe Anderson, of Lake Havasau, Arizona, and a sister, May Chenowith, of Des Moines, Iowa.
Memorial services were held at the First Baptist Church in Storm Lake on Friday, January 14, 2005, at 11:00 a.m., Pastor Tom Hinshaw officiating. Burial will be at a later date. The Fratzke & Jensen Fuenral Home in Storm Lake is in charge of the arrangements.
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