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PLATTSBURGH — John Noel's TV set sits dark much of the time.

He watches the news, but not much else catches his fancy.

"When the television first came out, it was something," he said, sitting on his neatly made bed at Meadowbrook Healthcare.

"The Jack Benny Program," "George Burns and Gracie Allen Show" come to mind.

"They don't have shows like that anymore."

Just turned 102, John relishes a lifetime of memories he serves up fresh as the day they happened.

As if it were yesterday, he remembers mealtime in the apartment above the family store, Noel's Grocery in Standish.

"We never sat down to eat (when customers) didn't rap on the door.

"Standish," he chuckled at the thought of the tiny Town of Dannemora hamlet. "That's a big town."

But even there, he came to know there was a much bigger world, one he was destined to one day travel far and wide.

The 1918 Spanish influenza pandemic felt around the globe visited the small community — and the Noel family.

"There was quite a few people died in Standish," he recalled, "but we pulled through."

An altar boy at St. Michael's Church, he helped out the pastor.

"He used to talk about the stock market," John recalled. "I didn't know what he was talking about. But apparently, he made money — one day, he bought a brand-new blue Buick."

The priest took John with him to visit family in New York City — that was a contrast in communities.

Even Plattsburgh, where John attended St. John's High School, was quite the place. There, he boarded with a Mrs. Fitzpatrick, working for his keep. For a time, John worked at an A&P grocery store in Plattsburgh.

"Remember those?" he asked.

LOBSTER COUNTRY
The Noels farmed 100 acres in Standish.

"When we bought it, there were seven cows, two horses and two pigs," he said. "The pigs were my favorite, but then you had to kill one ..."

He decided early on that farming wasn't for him.

"I had to milk the cows and feed them — boy, I got out of there as fast as I could."

He was lucky enough to attend Albany Business School then land a job with Graves & Roberts Distributorship, a liquor company in Albany.

"My father, he'd send for stuff and make his own liquor," John said with a grin. "We knew when he was drinking."

After the United States entered World War II, John was drafted into the U.S. Army. He was 35 but not too old to do his duty. At one point, he said, three Noel sons served; another fought in Korea.

On the bedroom wall is a portrait of John from that time.

"A Jewish soldier from Virginia did it," he said. "I had to set a good many afternoons for it."

Assigned to Camp Langdon in New Hampshire, John relished his experience in "lobster country."

"A trap got loose one time," he said. "We brought the lobsters to the mess hall and they cooked them for us."

He paused, eyes twinkling.

"We never have lobster here."

On another wall is a family portrait — Frank and Mary Noel and their 11 children. John stands among the older ones; his youngest sibling, Gerald, poses at the front of the crowd.

He lives in Chazy Lake now.

"He's only 75," John said.

TIGER WOODS FAN
John, who never married, traveled in Europe; he was especially taken with Madrid. He loved Broadway and took advantage of a cousin's position at a theater there, attending shows as often as he could.

"Ethel Merman was a big star," he said. "Rudy Vallee.

"I saw Bing Crosby and Kate Smith in the same show. The last show I saw was about the queen of England."

A man of faith then and now, he'd attend Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral when in New York City.

After retirement, he moved to Florida, where he played a lot of golf, even took lessons.

"You think it's an easy game, but it isn't," he said.

"I always watch Tiger Woods."

His days now move along more slowly.

"What are you going to do at (102)?" he said, then nodded at Meadowbrook intern Sherrell Smith, who directs the exercise class he takes. "She keeps me in shape."

John subscribes to the Reader's Digest and reads the Press-Republican.

"It's only 50 cents," he noted.

He enjoys Plattsburgh restaurants, like Friendly's, Anthony's.

"I like the Butcher Block," he said. "They've got red snapper."

Lately, Smith has been collecting John's memories, capturing his words on paper for posterity.

Life has been good, he said.

"It went awful fast. And it's still not going too bad."

His eyes sparkling with humor, he added, "I don't feel any different than when I was 99."

E-mail Suzanne Moore at: smoore@pressrepublican.com