Paula R. Noll

Paula Noll (Rabe), a longtime resident of Maryland City in Laurel, Maryland, died on January 31, 2024. She was born on August 22, 1933, in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, the daughter of the late Phillip G. Rabe and Paula C. Steggemann.  Paula was one of 17 children. During WWII, as a young 7-year-old, she was evacuated from the family home in Southern Bavaria (coal mining country). She then lived with a foster family until she turned 14 years old, then she was on her own.  She found a job with the Benedictine Order in Bavaria at the Ludwig Ferdinand Orphanage School, that housed 300 children and religious personnel.  She worked as a Cook/Baker. She learned the recipes in the morning and then taught them to a dozen young ladies in the afternoon. One of her students was Sophie Evans, who remained her best friend all her life. For working as a cook and teacher, she was given room, board, and a minor stipend.  This was the beginning of her life-long service to the Catholic Church.

In 1956, Paula became engaged to a US soldier.  The quota for Germans to come to America was full, so she could not come at that time.  Her husband-to-be and his father worked all the avenues including the US Government to try and get her here. Eventually, after much persistence, Paula sailed to America, as an Act of Congress, not through Ellis Island as normal. Paula arrived February 9 and was married on February 16, 1957, to Henry Carl Noll Jr.  On a side note: Paula was the only one of her siblings to come to America, and she became a US citizen in 1961.They lived in Beltsville and Greenbelt as newlyweds and moved “out in the sticks” to Laurel, MD in 1963.

She was a teacher’s aide for pre-school students and then began a 50-year career at Resurrection of Our Lord Catholic Church.  There she managed the kitchen, cooked, cleaned, maintained the hall and church, taught religious education to Kindergarteners, catered, organized special functions and fundraisers, as well as provided, clothing, food, and necessities to those less fortunate in the immediate Laurel area.  Paula was in the Church Choir, Altar-Rosary Society, Women’s Guild, ran the Christmas Bazaars for 30 years, made the church flower arrangements, and a variety of other activities too many to mention. While doing this, she & Henry raised a Catholic family with four children.

Paula Noll was preceded in death by her husband Henry Carl Noll Jr.; her parents: Phillip Rabe & Paula Steggemann; her siblings: Phillip, Herman, Elisabeth, Heinrich, Maria, Anton, Bernhard, Johan, Christine, Hermine, Johann, Irmgard, Josefine, Heinrich, and Wilhemine; her brother-in-law: Eugene Noll; and her foster family. She is survived by daughters: Paula Ann Noll (Jim Stricklin), Kathleen Leddy (James); Elizabeth “Lilly” Knocke (David); her son: Henry “Hank” Noll; Grandchildren: Alexander Knocke (Bryanne), Andrew Noll (Shelby), Christopher Knocke, Katlyn Noll, and Taylor Noll (Isaias Soto); Great-grandchildren: Christlyn and Daytan Knocke; Waylon and Hudson Noll; Rosalina and Amaia Soto; her brother Josef “Jupp” Rabe, of Germany; brother-in-law: James Noll (Paula); sister-in-law: Carol Noll; her life-long best friend Sophie Evans; and many nieces, nephews, and other relatives living in both the US and Germany, too many to mention by name, but they are loved.

Visitation will be on Mon, Feb. 5 from 2-4pm and 7-9pm with the Christian Wake (Prayers) at 7:30pm at Donaldson Funeral Home, 313 Talbot Ave, in Laurel. A Mass of Christian Burial will be on Tues, Feb. 6 at 11am at Resurrection of Our Lord Catholic Church, 8402 Brock Bridge Rd, Laurel, celebrated by the Rev. Thomas Dymowski O.SS.T. and several other clergy members. The Interment will take place at the Maryland Veteran’s Cemetery in Crownsville at 1pm. Reception to follow at Resurrection of Our Lord Parish Hall in Laurel.

In lieu of flowers, Memorial Donations “In memory of Paula Noll” may be made to: St. Lawrence Martyr Catholic Church, 7850 Parkside Blvd, Hanover, MD 21076 using the QR code above

St. Lawrence Martyr Catholic Church
7850 Parkside Blvd., Hanover MD 21076
Web: https://saintlawrencemartyr.org/