Evelyn Noelle Lawton

Evelyn Noelle Lawton was born to Gerda and Walter Noelle on March 21, 1947 and lived through the Berlin Airlift. When she was four, her family immigrated to America through Ellis Island and lived in Huntington Station, New York, on Long Island. In high school she won a Daughters of the American Revolution New York State Sewing Contest, even before she passed her citizenship test. Her father was an engineer and helped design the Apollo Lunar Module Eagle landing stage that still remains on the moon. Her mother as a school girl was among those ordered by Hitler to be flag girls in the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

Ev and her husband lived in adjacent towns on Long Island, but met at the Oswego State University College during an 111 inch snow storm. In 1969 they graduated, got married, and moved to Columbus to go to OSU Graduate School. Ev won a four-year University doctoral scholarship, graduating with a Masters in German. Her real love, however, lay in teaching. Her career included teaching eighth grade science at Norton Middle School, kindergarten at East Franklin Elementary School, and teaching earth science and biology at Westland High School, retiring as Science Department Head. After retiring, she continued for more than a dozen years as a substitute science teacher. She often took attendance and pronounced the students names in German and soon had the nickname as ‘the German sub’.

She is survived by her husband of 55 years, Raymond Warren Lawton and three wonderful children: Kristina (Jerry) Stone, Kenneth Raymond Lawton, and Kathryn (Barry) Lawton-Baughman and two energetic grandchildren, Noelle and Reagan. In her travels Ev ate lunch inside a glacier in Switzerland, watched a soccer World Cup Championship game on a beach in St. Martin, celebrated New Year Eve in Berlin, went rafting in a cave in Costa Rica, swam in the Dead Sea, enjoyed dozens of cruises, and was the undisputed queen of airline travel upgrades. She organized a cruise for two dozen Westland teachers. She was in Delta’s Million Mile Club.

She was most proud of having mentored many students, helping them achieve their goals. She was, with four other families, a co-founder of the Down Syndrome Association of Central Ohio, which started small and now serves 23 Ohio counties. Most of all Ev will be remembered as kind and caring, seeking to help people in as many ways as possible.

Memorial Service will be held at 4 PM on Thursday, January 30, 2025 at SCHOEDINGER NORTHWEST, 1740 Zollinger Road, Upper Arlington, Ohio 43221, where a reception will follow from 5-7 PM.