OA Jan 21 2004

ODESSA — A memorial service for Odessa writer Muriel Linn ‘Coco’ Noll, widow of the late Charles A. Noll Jr., will be held at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 22, 2004, at the First Christian Church, 601 N. Lee Avenue, in Odessa following a private internment at Sunset Memorial Gardens. Mrs. Noll, an Odessa resident for 53 years, died Monday, Jan. 19, 2004, in Midland.
Born in Nolan County, Texas, in 1914 as Muriel Linn, she met and married Charles Noll in 1934. After the couple moved to Odessa in 1950, she and a friend, Marie Osborn, started the Odessa Creative Writer’s Club. Over the coming years, Mrs. Noll was widely published in magazines serving the West Texas population, including Scenes Magazine, Flair Magazine, West Texas Sun Magazine, Permian Basin Scenes Magazine, and The Odessan Magazine. She also garnered numerous awards in the Odessa College Writer’s Round-up and in other writing competitions. This past year a collection of her work was published by her family under the title, “More Than I Ever Dreamed: Writings of a Farmer’s Daughter,” which is included in the Southwest Collection at the Ector County Library and at the Nolan County Library.
Mrs. Noll wrote stories inspired by the life she lived as well as others with whom she came in contact. Her writings reflect a life rich with friends and family, but also open to pain and the struggles of daily life. In it all, she found inspiration, sharing the most intimate details of her life as she wrote about her marriage, her family and the people around her. She laid down her pen in 1990 after the death of her husband who owned and operated Noll Drilling Company in Odessa for over 25 years. Mrs. Noll was a member of Texas Pen Women and Daughters of the American Revolution.
While writing was her passion, friends and family members will always think of her love of fashion, which allowed her to create a splash at any event she attended. She will be particularly remembered for her fondness of bold, beautiful hats and the latest fashions reflected in the outfits she wore.
She and her companion of later years, Reed McFarland, participated in dance clubs in Midland and Odessa, enjoyed travel and were longtime members of the First Christian Church of Odessa.
Mrs. Noll is survived by a son, Charles A. Noll III and his wife, Gail, of Midland; two daughters, Betty Linn McCarty and her husband, Jerry, of Centennial, Colo., and Sharon White and her husband, Ted, of San Antonio; three sisters, including Mrs. Linn Coleman of Ballinger, Mrs. Freddie Hoagland of Tuscola, and Mrs. Joy Dugan of Big Spring; one brother, David Linn of Nolan County; seven grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren; and her companion, Mr. McFarland.
Pallbearers will be her grandsons, Paul McCarty, Matthew McCarty, Joshua White and Anthony Noll, and her sons-in-law, Ted White and Jerry McCarty.
The family will receive friends at the funeral home from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorials be made to the Odessa Public Library or your charity of choice.
Funeral arrangements are entrusted to Sunset Memorial Funeral Home.