Noel Caraig

"Is there some reason that my coffee isn't here? Has she died or something?" a quote from one of his favorite movie characters Miranda Priestly from ‘The Devil Wears Prada.’ Sadly, that’s why there’s no coffee… Noel has died.

Our Noel, born Emmanuel Basuel Caraig on December 30, 1969, passed away on Thursday, May 23, 2024 after complications from Leukemia and his bone marrow stem cell transplant. Everyone would agree, a bright star just went dark. The world got a little sadder without Noel’s smile and laugh.

Noel was born in and grew up in Quezon City, Philippines, a suburb within Metro Manila. The oldest son of Roberto and Clarita Caraig, he is survived by his beautiful mom Clarita and his five younger siblings – Cindy, Roberto (“Jun”), Margaret (“Magic”), David, and Clarissa (“Richie”). He has a close-knit family, including many cousins, aunts, uncles, and the like. He loved growing up there and had so many stories. Can you say Halo Halo?

In 1992, after graduating from the University of the Philippines Manila as a new Physical Therapist, Noel got a job offer in Chicago, U.S.A. For the first 22 years of his life Noel had never left the Philippines, never been on a plane, and definitely had never seen snow – but he took the job and flew across the world by himself, away from family and everything he knew, and started his new life for the next 11 years in Chicago. He quickly built his chosen family there and thrived in North Chicago, from Boystown to Andersonville to Rogers Park. Coming from a conservative Catholic country with strong Filipino traditions, Noel found his real self in Chicago too and came out as a proud gay man in those crazy ’90s – Rhythm is a dancer!

In 2003, Noel moved out to Seattle with a now ex-bf and found himself with a PT job at the University of Washington, holding the same job for almost 20 years until the end – with his clinic peers being his first family there and with no turn over staying that way. After being single in Seattle for a year, he was about to move back to Chicago but met the love of his life via Match.com, Scott a.k.a. Scooter, which changed everything. Scooter and Noel met February 2007, got engaged in Paris the end of 2009 on his 40th birthday, and married in February 2011. They had 17 blissful years together, loving and laughing, dancing and singing, traveling and shopping, movie-watching and Broadway musical-consuming, not to mention biking and walking, and buying a beautiful craftsman house together – cohabitating in North Seattle’s Greenlake and Greenwood neighborhoods. Noel is also survived by his husband Scooter, his cat Pici, his Churchill family in the Puget Sound area, and his close Seattle chosen family.

There’s too much to say about this incredible human being, so where do we start? Do we start with how many people’s hearts Noel touched his whole life, from the Philippines to the UK, from each coast of Canada to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, and of course the hundreds of pockets in the U.S. – from his families in Seattle and Chicago to loved ones in California, Texas, Florida, New York, Maryland, Missouri, and beyond? Or do we start with the incredible physical therapist he was during the day, but an equally incredible painter and cook and gardener and woodworker and cyclist and reader outside of his paying job? Or do we start with his crazy vocabulary and ability to pick up languages after his Tagalog and English, dipping into French, and Spanish, and Italian – enough to get along with the natives in any of those spoken countries? And to that, do we start with his love for traveling, his wanting to see more and more of the country and the world – whether on a Viking riverboat cruise or a plane or a car? Or do we start with his beautiful smile and contagious laugh, and his tight hugs, and ability to have anyone fall in love with his friendship? Or do we jump straight into his love of karaoke, and his goofy nature, and doing drag as his favorite black artists such as Tina Turner?

There are no words really to describe the one and only Noel except that so many people will miss him deeply, and the world will never be the same without him standing on it. And as he said before his last day, “I’ll see you on the other side” – and we believe it – though he might not say hi immediately since his nose may be in a good book or hiding behind a canvas as he’s painting his masterpiece.

So as Miranda Priestly would say while gesturing for people to leave the room, “That’s all.”