Member

Noble was born on March 22, 1912, on a farm near Murdock, Nebraska. His grandparents were pioneer residents of that community, homesteading there in 1869 and his parents resided continuously in the community for 80 years. He graduated in 1932 from the University of Nebraska where he majored in zoology. Noble joined the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife in 1935 working with the former control methods research laboratory in Lincoln, Nebraska. Later he was detailed to the Prairie States Forestry Project and was responsible for developing rodent control methods. He held a number of supervisory positions in wildlife research in Wyoming, California, and Texas. In 1948, Noble became district agent of the Dakotas-Nebraska district, and in 1956, regional supervisor of predator and rodent control operations of the Bureau’s North Central Region in Minneapolis, Minnesota. A year later, Noble was named chief of the branch of predator and rodent control in the Washington office. In 1961, he became chief of the Division of Wildlife for the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife and served in this position until his retirement in 1971. During his period of supervision the division was composed of branches for management and procurement, predator and rodent control, wildlife refuges, and wildlife research. In 1971 he received the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Distinguished Service Award. Noble was a member of many organizations including The Wildlife Society, American Society of Mammalogists, American Numismatic Association, and the American Legion. He was elected to the Washington Biologists’ Field Club in 1960. Noble was married to Mabel, who also was a native Nebraskan. They lived in Silver Spring, Maryland, after his retirement. They had a son, Bradford E., two daughters, Sandra Albertson and Cynthia Seymour, and seven grandchildren. Noble died on January 16, 1975, at Holy Cross Hospital after suffering a heart attack.