Kenneth Poe Funeral Services

June 24, 2024

I was blessed by my faith, my heritage, my family, my education, and my friends all my life. Born in Charlotte, NC, to Dolly Nicholson Tate and John Austin Tate, Jr., I was a seventh generation Charlottean and very proud of it. Educated at Eastover and Midwood elementary schools until the seventh grade, I graduated from the early Charlotte Country Day School in the old farmhouse with no heat. In 1960, I graduated from Chatham Hall where to this day they tell the tale of my playing Ziggy Hurwitz’s rendition of “Lullaby of Birdland” instead of my scheduled Beethoven Sonata as the chosen closing piece for my senior recital. In 1961 I was presented by the Charlotte Debutante Club, whatever that implies. With double majors in piano and religion, I graduated from Sweet Briar College with a BA. At age 47, twenty-seven years later, I completed my most meaningful education, graduating from The University of Alabama in Huntsville, with a Batchelor of Science in Nursing. At graduation I received, in absentia, the Dean’s Award for Academic Excellence the day my mother died.

I was married to Frank Kenneth Noojin Jr., for thirty-five years. Our sons, Frank Kenneth Noojin III, MD, of Columbia, SC, and John Tate Noojin of Atlanta, GA survive me as do my grandchildren, Ivey, Frank IV, Sara Caroline (called “Ellie”), Alex and Blake Dubey, and my two adopted grandchildren, Bee and Will Voellinger, my brother, John Austin Tate III and my beloved sister-in-law, Claire Kinnett Tate, and their children, Bright and Austin. I hope that by now I have joined my wonderful parents and my two magnificent grandmothers.

Since I am not here, I will mention the accomplishments of which I am proud: years of service at the First Presbyterian Church, Huntsville, AL where I was active as a deacon, treasurer of the WOC, Altar Guild member, Stephen Minister, and Sunday School teacher for many years for the 12^th graders, teaching Values Clarification. As a direct descendent of John Knox, 1505 – 1572, I really believed until the age of 67 that my blood ran Presbyterian. When my denomination debated for years – YEARS - the issue of whether homosexual persons were fit to serve in positions of leadership in the Presbyterian church, I decided that I didn’t fit either. I joined Myers Park Baptist Church.

Other accomplishments which gave me great joy – decades of volunteer service, culminating in serving as President of the Junior League of Huntsville and American Association of Junior Leagues (AJLI)at the national level on the AJLI Area V Council. But my real passion was my sixteen years of Oncology Clinical Research in the emerging field of breast cancer prevention in well women at high risk for breast cancer. I loved every single patient. This I did in memory of my mother-in-law whom I adored and who was taken at age 52 by a thief in the night – breast cancer!

Awards: Distinguished Young Woman of Huntsville, 1976; Distinguished Young Woman of Alabama, 1976; Outstanding Volunteer Activist of Alabama, 1977; Governor’s Award for the Outstanding Public Health Education Program in Alabama, 1996; 1997 Madison County Leadership Award presented by the University of Alabama Women’s Studies Program and The Women’s Economic Development Council; 1998 BMW Heroine of the Year, Drive for the Cure. In 2000, three physicians and I were honored by the Carolina Panthers and the American Cancer Society at Bank of America Stadium.

My body has been given to the Wake Forest University School of Medicine.

If you wish to remember me honor my life by a donation to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital (501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105). No child should ever, EVER, die of cancer.

A Celebration of the Life of Caroline Wilson Tate Noojin will be held at 3 PM on August 10, 2024, at Myers Park Baptist Church followed by a reception in the Heaton Hall Foyer at Myers Park Baptist Church.

Arrangements are in the care of Kenneth W. Poe Funeral & Cremation Service, 1321 Berkeley Avenue, Charlotte, NC 28204 (704) 641-7606. Online condolences can be shared at www.kennethpoeservices.com.