DR HELMUT HERBOLD NOLL

Born 9th September 1913 - Died 25th June 1991

 

A bronze sculpture created by his wife Harriet

 

He was born on 9th September 1913 at Essen, and baptized there on 12th October, the son of Georg Ludwig Noll and Johanna Ellenbeck. On 11th June 1958 he married Henriette Constanze Ruhrmann, the elder daughter of Walther and Maria Ruhrmann. They had no children. Helmut died on 25th June 1991 and was buried at Poppelsdorf Friedhof, near Bonn.

Helmut attended the Volkschule in Essen for four years, before going on to the Krupp-Oberrealschule mit Reformgymnasium in 1923. He completed his education here in Easter of 1932. Subsequently he devoted his studies to Astronomy, Physics, Geophysics and Mathematics at the University of Leipzig. He obtained a grant towards this from the City of Essen, for which he was very grateful.

In February 1937 he obtained a position with Telefunken. Through the war years he worked in Berlin; it was there he met his future wife Harriet Ruhrmann.

My father was stationed in Germany until being demobbed in 1953.Given the itinerant life style he had to live, I spent much time with my uncle and aunt at their flat in Bonn. This not only during the period my father was in Germany, but also subsequently. They were wonderful times, and I am eternally grateful for the love and affection they showed towards me.

After the war Helmut had been asked to go to work in the USA. He would have ended up as a scientist working for Werner von Braun's team on rocket research and ultimately the space program. Fortunately, for me, he decided to remain in Germany.

Helmut decided to go into industry working for a company near Cologne for a good many years. He then went to live and work in Switzerland for a Swiss trading company basedin Zurich; this for a lengthy period in the 60s and early 70s. As their overseas reprentative, he would travel extensively abroad, covering the East Bloc, as also going to China on more than one occasion. The flat in Bonn was retained, and another overlooking lake Zurich taken. I spent many a holiday with them there, as also in the sport hotel Mont Soleil in St Imier, in the Jura. We travelled throughout Switzerland, occasionally popping over to Northern Italy. Helmut and Harriet enjoyed the night life, to which I was introduced at a young age, the Mascotte, in Zurich (now defunct), being their favourite haunt.

Eventually Helmut took a job in Germany, working for Leibold Hereaus. Based in Cologne, this made the flat in Zurich redundant, and it was given up. He was to take over as Managing Director of Leibold's subsidary in the UK, where for a period they took on a flat in Blackheath. The rest of the family saw a lot more of them then. Helmut and Harriet travelled extensively throughout the UK, their favourite holiday location being Gravetey Manor, where they spent a good deal of time.

Helmut regrettably suffered a stroke, which left him paralysed down one side of his face. Notwithstanding this, the only person who knew about this at his office for some considerable time was his secretary. He working until he was due to retire.

He was a highly intelligent and well educated man. His many hobbies included reading, listening to music and painting. He also wrote a semi-autobiographical book which has not yet seen publication. He was a keen student of family history and did his best to provide details of his family prior to his death. Much original source material has come to me, although I have not yet had the time to collate it all.