Feature Article February 5, 2004
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Noble Trousdale: The End of an Era
Lifelong
Sydenham resident and merchant Noble Trousdale died last week at the
age of 90, only three weeks after the death of his wife, Margaret.
Born and raised in Sydenham, Nobe studied engineering at Queens, where he and Margaret met. He went on to join the Canadian Navy, and served in Newfoundland during the Second World War. After the war, he returned to Sydenham to help his father, Percy Trousdale, run the family store. A familiar figure in the village for over half a century, Nobe had a huge network of friends and acquaintances. He was a many-faceted person, with great energy and enthusiasm for life.
In his eulogy for his father, John Trousdale spoke of Nobe as "a passionate person, in the full sense of the word." An athlete in his youth, he played hockey, baseball, football, participated in track and field. He liked speed: John had been told his mother packed away Nobes beloved speedboat after he flipped it on Sydenham Lake.
Friends and community were important to Nobe - he gave many young people their first jobs, and often quietly provided financial help where he saw it was needed.
A founding member and past president of the Sydenham branch of the Legion, Nobe was proud of the Canadian Navy, and loved to fly the white ensign. He nearly came to an early disastrous end when he decided to fly a particularly large ensign from the roof of the store, and climbed on stacked milk crates in lieu of a ladder.
Nobe enjoyed helping customers in the store, and prided himself on being able to provide things that people could find nowhere else. He had an amazing memory for detail, and seldom had to look long for an item. Customers remembered him, and usually felt on a first-name basis. Many refused to deal with anyone else in the store. He delighted in the fact that once, when he was in Kingston with Brian Mulroney, someone came up to them and said, "I know you youre Noble Trousdale from Sydenham!"
He was curious and interested, and loved learning - had a short-wave radio license and liked to read. Politics, and the Conservative party, were his passions. John recalled that a few years ago, after a nasty fall, Nobe seemed slow to recuperate, until "Jean Chretien, bless him, called an election." Nobe rallied at once, and got back to the store, so he could help organize the campaign to get rid of the Liberals.
His family was important to Nobe: he and Margaret had four children, Elaine Thomson (Murray), Peter (Anne), John (Ginny) and Janet Honig (Ken), and ten grandchildren.
As someone who had participated in almost a century of Canadian history, Noble was a popular speaker at local high school classes. His passing is indeed the end of an era.
