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Noel Borden


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A Celebration Of Life for Noel Borden, former director of the Long Island Kingsmen, will take place this Saturday, June 4th, from 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm at the Kings Park VFW Hall, 40 Church St, Kings Park, NY

The family request that anyone wishing to make a donation to please donate to your favorite drum corps in honor of Noel.

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  • 2 weeks later...

A little late learning of this and I am truly saddened to learn of the passing of this man. My sincerest Condolences to his family.

Most here would not know this of him, but I first met Noel I believe it was in May of the '69 season, one of my last with Garfield. Noel had already become a fixture at most if not all Cadet practices by the time I made it back from college. I wondered if he was a new Quartermaster or if he had a son(or daughter!!!) marching.(a lot of changes to adapt to that year marching with the Corp.) ........so I approached him and asked.........."No" he stated as he broke out in that great smile of his.........he was "just here as an Observer and it's Noel, not Mr Borden". He explained his association with another smaller area Jr Corp and that he simply wished to be around the Corp, to Observe what it was that made Garfield such a special Corp. His intent being to take that knowledge back to his Corp and try and instill that set of skills and teachings so it could have the same impact on the lives of young men and women the same way the Cadets had.

Noel, it turned out became much more than just an "Observer"...........he pitched in with his entire body and soul, helping any way he could or asked. He became an "interviewer" of all the Corp members as well of Staff............wanting to know what their experiences were and WHY they did this. At times he even became the Father Confessor when needed. It was when I experienced this that I realized he was from the same cut of men that MADE Holy Name.

Holy Name, Garfield was moulded from the teachings of The Church and of it's Director's........in the '30's '40's it was Mr. Huber, in the '50's and early '60's it was "The Chief" Bill Kemmerer. Both strong willed men who had a desire to "serve" the youth of their Church & Community. They were the cornerstones of the organization, providing discipline, direction, inspiration and understanding to young men, some of whom desperately needed to experience just that, and Noel was from that "Cut".

I left the Corp and the east coast within the next year for good, but still had the opportunity to see Noel over the years/decades at whatever National's I attended and he ALWAYS made time to sit down with me and have that catchup conversation on how things turned out............he even remembered my wife's name(both of them!) my children's and what I did as a profession..........I seem to recall that he even got his National Title with his "small area Jr Corp."! I don't remember if I ever had the opportunity to Congratulate him on that.......and I'm sure I never Thanked Him enough for being that Father Confessor I so desperately needed that day.

Soooo............Noel you never had to search for that "magic" the Cadet's had............you had it within your Being all the Time.

Congratulation's Noel........A Life Well Done Sir!

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