Noel Bertrand George Sr.

Visitation will be held from 9:00 AM until Funeral Service at 11:00 AM on Saturday, March 23, 2024 at Plymouth Rock Baptist Church 1000 Wallis Street Houma, LA.

Entombment with Military Honors under the auspices of the United States Air Force will follow at Morning Glory Cemetery 2600 Couteau Road Houma, LA.

Noel was born on August 14, 1932, to the late Ernest James George, Sr., of Clinton, Louisiana, and the late Noelie Anna (Williams) George of Lucy, Louisiana.

Noel was the youngest of the four George children—Ernest Jr., Clara, and Theodore. At that time, all of Noel’s family were raised in the Catholic faith.

He received his elementary education at Daneel Elementary School in New Orleans. However, due to his mother’s untimely death and his father’s employment as a Pullman Porter, his father enrolled him and his two older siblings—Clara and Ted—into Gaudet Episcopal School, a New Orleans boarding school near Gentilly, with Mr. Adrian Pertee, as principal. Noel graduated from Gaudet in 1950.

After graduation, Noel enrolled in Texas College, at Tyler, Texas, where he received a football scholarship. He suffered a knee injury and went home to recuperate. In 1951, he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force. While on furlough, he attended a high school football game that took place on the Dillard University campus where he bumped into one of his former Gaudet classmate and football teammate—James C. “J.C.”/“L’il J” Lewis, Jr.—his future wife Sadie Lewis’s brother. Noel later admitted that he spotted Sadie leaving the game’s bleachers and to his surprise, Sadie appeared to speak with her brother. At that time, J.C. introduced his sister to Noel. While the two fellas reminiscence about Gaudet and Noel joining the U.S. Air Force, Sadie listened intently. Sadie, shocked by her own question, asked Noel, “Would you like to go the Homecoming Dance?” And, Noel excitedly said, “Yes.” The very next day, Noel returned to the Dillard campus to “get acquainted” with Sadie. After Noel’s furlough was over, he returned to his military base and was shipped overseas. Noel and Sadie regularly corresponded, and she sent him her picture that Robinson Studios had placed in their local newspaper’s contest. To her surprise, while he was stationed in Korea, Noel had gotten someone to make silk-screened drawings from his and Sadie’s portraits.

Noel served in the U.S. Air Force from 1951 to 1955 during the Korean War. He played Air Force football in Yokohama, Japan. He was Honorably Discharged from the U.S. Air Force in 1955, with Military decorations, including the National Defense Service Medal, United Nations Medal, and Korean Service Medal, serving in the Korean War. Soon after, he enrolled in Southern University A&M in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. In a little less than three years, he received his Bachelor of Science Degree in 1958.

August 1956, he married Sadie Lewis of Houma, Louisiana, where they made their home.

In 1958, he was hired at Washington High School in Lake Charles, Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana. Along with his teaching assignment, he was asked to help with the school’s coaching—an assignment where he “was not” monetarily compensated. The second year, he refused to coach without pay.

In 1961, he returned to Houma where he was hired through the Terrebonne Parish School System to work at Southdown High School. He served as a defensive coach and a line coach in football; and he also was a track and field coach. He served as a basketball coach during the time that Coach Raymond Taylor was called to Active Reserve duty. Later, the coaches were designated heads of different sports. Noel was named Head Track Coach. In 1969, after desegregation went into effect, Southdown, as a “high school”, was closed and Noel was then assigned to Terrebonne High School. He was replaced as a head track coach by a “junior high school” coach. Conflicts arose, and he was transferred to Oaklawn Junior High School.

During his tenure in the Terrebonne Parish School System, he was able to obtain scholarships for students in basketball, football, as well as track and field.

In the early 1970s, during the time he worked at Oaklawn, Noel and Sadie built (from the ground up) a two story, eight-unit apartment complex named George’s Eastown Apartments at 321 Roselawn Avenue, Houma. The apartments were constructed by Mr. Harold Aubert, Sr.

In the mid-1970s, Noel and Sadie studied the bible together, then he converted and was baptized in the Baptist faith at Plymouth Rock Baptist Church by the late Rev. Johnny Price, where later became head of Plymouth Rock’s Trustee Board. Noel, along with a few other members, helped church members to become aware of proportional tithing.

Employment after Oaklawn: Zapata Hannie; Allen Welders; Lapeyrouse Roofing; Kirschman’s Furniture; and Scott Fence Company. Noel, Sadie and her brother Frank partnered up to purchase a commercial building on Barrow Street, Houma, Louisiana, to open George & Associates Insurance Agency.

In 1989, Noel and Sadie moved to Orlando, Florida, where they assumed dual residence. While in Florida, he worked in Orlando’s Orange County School System for 11 years. His last assignment was at Mid-Florida Tech, where he retired in 2000.

After retiring in Florida, he became a partner in education by tutoring students after school hours.

While in Orlando, Florida, Noel served as a deacon and a Sunday School teacher in Mt. Pleasant Missionary Baptist Church and Emmanuel Missionary Baptist Church. Upon returning to Louisiana, he served as a deacon and a Sunday School teacher in Plymouth Rock Baptist Church.

Noel was a lifetime member of the following organizations: National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), where he served as the first-elected president of the current chapter of that NAACP; Classroom Teachers Association in Orlando, Florida (CTA); National Education Association (NEA), and the Florida Education Association (FEA).

When Noel and Sadie both retired from Orlando, they returned to reside full time in Terrebonne Parish.

Noel was a faithful Christian. Between three and five o’clock in the morning, Noel ritually woke up to pray, read his Bible and daily devotions, took his vitals and medications, and returned to bed.

Noel’s Transition: On the day of Deacon George’s transition, he started his day by praying and thanking his Lord. He began reciting all the books of the Old Testament. After he reached the book of MALICHI, he paused momentarily, then started reciting all the books of the New Testament. Once he reached “REVELATION”, he paused again. Then, he started reciting 1st PSALM, then he started reciting the 23rd PSALM. Then, he began saying, “Thank you Jesus! Thank you, Lord” over and over again. Later, he requested his family to stretch out his arms and legs and to “Take off these clothes”. “There’s a meeting in the kitchen.” Then, he no longer wanted the sheet that once covered his legs. The family tried to rationalize and reassure him to keep his sheet in place because he was dressed only in his night shirt. He said that he could not see his legs. Soon after, his nurse arrived to take his vitals—his blood pressure was excellent, but his oxygen level was low; therefore, she placed the oxygen tube in his nostrils to elevate his oxygen levels and she placed a cold towel on his face and head. He became agitated, so she placed a drop of medication inside of his cheek. He relaxed. Then, the nursed said the family, “He is leaving us.” Then he peacefully transitioned before our eyes.

Noel is survived by his loving wife Sadie Lewis George of 67 ½ years; three sons: Kenneth George (Penny) of Tyrone, GA, Noel George Jr. (Debbie) of Houma, LA, and Lorin George (Sharon) of Sugar Land, TX; three daughters: Lynne George of Houma, LA, Melody Hadrick (Reginald) of Napoleonville, LA, and Pamala Washington (Sterling) of Gibson, LA; nine grandchildren and fourteen great grandchildren; one brother: Theodore H. George, Sr. (Maria); one sister: Clara George Knighten, both of New Orleans, LA; three brothers-in-law: Alvin C. Lewis, Sr. (Shirley) of New Haven, CT, Ralph E. Lewis (Joel) of Moreno Valley, CA, Frank D. Lewis (Norma) of Houma, LA; two sisters-in-law: Jessie M. Lewis Jefferson of Oxon Hill, MD, Bessie B. Lewis of Houma, LA, and JoAnn S. George of Pennsylvania; a host of nieces, nephews, and other relatives; godchildren: Donna Chanel Robinson and Charles Cedric Harrell.

He was preceded in death by his parents Ernest James George Sr., Noelie Williams George, and his step mother Albertine Mathieu George; his brother Ernest James George, Jr.; and his grandson Anthony John Thibodaux, Jr.