Denzil Noble

Denzil Noble

79, of Libby

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Denzil Charles Noble (Denny), of Libby, was gathered unto his people in glory on April 22, 2015, at the age of 79 years. He was born in Backus, Minn., July 16, 1935, to Denzil C. and Bula M. (Elyea) Noble, the eldest of four brothers.

After Denzil, Sr. fell in 1945 at the Battle of the Bulge, Bula remarried in 1946 to Ted Coonts and the family relocated to a small farm in Snohomish, Wash., Denny graduated Snohomish High School in 1953. When not working the family farm he pursued his passion for hunting ducks.

Denny married his high school sweetheart Marilyn Williams on Sept. 9, 1955. Their son Michael was born in April 1958, and son Lance in March 1960. Denny graduated with a history degree from Seattle Pacific College in 1960 and taught 8th and 9th grade in Ephrata, Wash., for seven years. His daughter Caralee was born in July 1961.

Beginning in 1967, the family lived in Monroe, Wash., while Denny worked as assistant librarian at Seattle Pacific College, taught 6th grade in Snohomish and began a contracting career. He was an interim pastor at Monroe Covenant Church. In 1974 they moved back to Ephrata, Wash., until all the children graduated high school.

In 1983, a move brought them to Montana and commenced a semi-itinerant lifestyle for the next 17 years. During this period they lived several different times in Libby, Condon, Ephrata, Wash., and Yakima, Wash., often building and remodeling houses while serving in various Christian ministries, frequently filling the pulpit for small community churches. Their final move in 2000 brought them back to Libby where Denny pastored Kootenai Valley Bible Church the last several years until his death.

Through his ministry, and through his life, Denny touched the hearts of countless people, opening his home to friends and strangers, sharing the Gospel with any willing listener and counseling others in their times of need. He was a hunter of bucks and a fisher of men, a writer and a self-reliant man who cared for and protected his beloved bride until the very end. He lived to provide for his family, to serve and share with others and to love his Lord, whom he so much looked forward to meeting face-to-face. He is loved and truly missed by those who knew him, and the lives he affected keep his spirit and memory alive.

Denny is survived by his wife of almost 60 years, Marilyn, now of Spirit Lake, Idaho; sons, Michael (Cindy) of Yakima, Wash., and Lance (Stacey) of Spokane, Wash.; daughter Caralee (William) Erickson of Spirit Lake, Idaho; 6 grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren; brothers, Edward (Donna) Coonts and Robert (Judy) Coonts and predeceased by brother Larry (Sandy) Noble.

Many thanks to the wonderful staff of KRMC and Home Options Hospice and to close friends who upheld him to the end. A memorial service and luncheon will be held on May 30, 2015, 11 a.m., mountain standard time, at Three Lakes Community Bible Church, 136 Ring Loop Road in Troy.