Marion Noebels Ham

Full of life and ready for anything, Marion Evelyn Noebels took her stand in this world on August 18, 1927. She was born into a German and Scots-Irish family just ahead of the Great Depression in Dayton, NJ. Marion was already preceded by three siblings, Henry, Audrey and Edward, and would be followed by three more, Gerard, Raymond and Lorraine. Her father, Gerhardt Noebels (1891-1964) from Germany, opened a bicycle shop in the family garage. As a teenager, Marion became his right-hand assistant, helping with bike repairs and trading wares at Englishtown Sales – a weekly outdoor swap-meet to which Marion would one day bring her own children. There, Gerhardt always gave young Marion a nickel and challenged her to bring back a quarter-- a dare she always won! The game fostered in her an understanding of people and the value of useful things, and gave her a lifelong appreciation for the maxim: ‘Nothing ventured, nothing gained.’

Marion’s intrepid, resourceful spirit was born of necessity. She paid attention to the suffering of small things and of those she loved and always pitched-in to help. She championed mute creatures, whether babies or animals, and cared deeply for their well-being. Despite their hardships, Marion’s own parents took humble joy in life and modelled fierce insistence on finding the silver lining. Just so, Marion became adept at forging encouragement for herself and others, coaching resilience, integrity and courage. Marion was first and last a teacher, and her students in all walks of life always knew she had their best interests at heart.

After high school in Dayton, she hoisted her own bootstraps and got a job at Squibb Laboratories, now merged with Bristol Meyer Squibb. Success in her field – crystal microphotography – depends upon strong visual acuity, another of her many natural talents. When Marion learned of an opening at Merck & Co. Labs, she took the train to Rahway, NJ, to apply. Sitting alone in the cafeteria after the interview, Marion befriended a young woman there. Ida Marie offered her a roof, a couch and a meal, beginning a friendship that would last for years. At Merck, Marion also met the love of her life – a handsome young biochemist named Ed Ham who frequented her dark room with “developing” assignments for her (…ahem!). They married in 1952, sealing a relationship that was to last until Ed’s passing in 2020 and beyond.

Ed and Marion raised four children in Clark, NJ. Barbara, Jennifer, Gretchen and Kenneth pursued different paths after earning graduate degrees in college. Barb is a Waldorf art teacher, Jenn is a German Professor, Gretchen is a veterinarian, and Ken is an astronaut who has twice piloted shuttles to the International Space Station. Grandchildren Kyle, Kaylyn, Ryan, Randy and Garrett now pursue their own adult lives, and great-grandchild Sylvia Rose begins a new wave of successors.

From the beginning, Marion found solace in Nature and felt most at home exploring the fields behind her childhood home. Throughout her life, she sought out natural surroundings, teaching her children by example to love the woods, streams and wild creatures. Later, our home in NJ enjoyed a steady parade of animal friends including rabbits, a lamb, innumerable gerbils and guinea pigs, cats, Shelties – which she bred for many years – and even a goose who lived with us for nearly a decade! This menagerie made travel difficult, but the family managed regular camping trips, piling into the VW bus in the summer and heading south to Florida and out West for points unknown.

Once her children were in school, Marion sought a new outlet for her abundant creativity. Always an artist, crafter and master in the kitchen, she marshalled us kids to learn from all her endeavors. We practiced painting with oils and watercolors, and learned to shuck peas, top green beans and hull strawberries by the bushel for canning and preserves. One day, to my horror, I arrived home from school to find her, cleaver in hand, studying a butchering diagram in Joy of Cooking, a pig (?) carcass laid out on the kitchen counter. It seemed nothing was beyond her valiant striving! Marion went on to write a popular cookbook – Gifts from a Country Kitchen-- comprised of her own recipes. She bought a Nikon camera and taught herself the difficult art of food photography, documenting these meals in full-color spreads that featured her extensive collection of antiques for context. Our Mother could never believe her “luck” in pulling this project together, but we all knew it was her tenacity and daring that made it happen.

Marion always felt a kinship with the hard-working women from early American colonial times. Something about their privations and inventiveness resonated with her own can-do spirit. She loved the rustic furnishings from this period and collected these even across Canada long before it was fashionable. When Marion came upon primitive hooked rugs, she was instantly smitten! With dogged determination, she learned everything she could about the art form --recycling and dyeing woolens, building hooking frames and designing patterns for “Quail Hill Designs,” her own successful rug hooking business. Together she and Ed purchased a country farmhouse in Limerick, Maine, where Marion began offering live-in hooking camps, drawing like-minded makers from around the world. Her hooked rugs were featured in books, magazines and museums, and Marion’s name became associated with the craft. Later they purchased an old sea captain’s house on the Maine coast in Pennellville and transferred the workshops to that magical place. Those years brought so much joy and fulfillment to them both as they welcomed ‘hookers’ into their lives, making new friends over fine food, through conversation and creativity in the beautiful countryside. To this day many hookers still revere Marion’s expertise and speak fondly of the down-home artistic community born in those workshops. She played an important role in the revival of this craft, and is still listed as Editor, Emeritus on the Rug Hooking Magazine masthead.

Ed and Marion loved New England, and when the seacoast farm became too much to handle, they moved to Peterborough, NH, for their final years. Although they made a comfortable life there in assisted living, it was a newly passive time for them both. Drawn by the strength of her visual aptitudes, Marion became an avid puzzler later on, exhorting all who passed her puzzle table to “Sit down and put a piece in!” All those who did sit—and there were many! -- saw a remarkably resolute woman who always found at least one reason to smile, wink and share a laugh at the impossible absurdity of life. Marion imbued her world with her own sense of humor, beauty, truth and love. All those who knew her are surely the richer for it.

Marion passed on October 9, 2025, at age 98. She will be remembered by so many.

We miss you, Mother.