Daniel Thomas Noonan

Daniel Thomas Noonan passed away on 10/30/2022. Tom had two children with his former wife, Sandra L. Wadsworth Noonan (deceased): Kara K. Stevens and Blake J. Noonan (deceased).  Other family who will miss him dearly are Kara’s sons, Bryce D. Stevens and Glenn A. Stevens.  

Tom was an exceptional man of many noteworthy talents. From an early age, he was a hard working and devoted young man. He helped out his widowed mother by working in their small grocery store to support the two of them. From an early age he had a strong passion for both drawing and airplanes and did well in life to follow his dreams.  His passion for airplanes was influenced by his father, Daniel (Dan) Noonan. Dan was the Production Engineer for the Alexander Eaglerock biplane before Tom was born and flew with Gen. Billy Mitchell.  This passion led Tom to his first career in the United States Air Force as a fighter pilot.  Tom was a Vietnam veteran and earned a medal for a particularly dangerous mission there. From there he was stationed in Germany and met Sandy Wadsworth, who was teaching at the school on base.  They married and started their family there. 

Upon moving back to the U.S., Tom continued to be a full-time fighter pilot for the New York Air Reserves in Syracuse. Tom ultimately retired from the Reserves as a Major. While still flying full time, Tom went back to school to get a second Bachelor’s Degree in Industrial Design. In the course of this second career, Tom became an expert in ergonomics and plastics, was awarded 11 patents, and owned his own business for 10 years. Kara remembers fondly of him saying how lucky he was in life to have been able to get paid to follow his passions.  At the end of his career, he even got to pass on his knowledge to Industrial Design students as an instructor at Metro State University, Denver. If he wasn’t flying or designing, Tom loved to sail boats and shared this with his family. 

Tom was strongly devoted to his family.  In addition to remaining good friends with his former wife, San, he did everything he could to help his children and grandsons, both financially and emotionally. As both fatherand Granddad, Tom always had a strong hug, positive advice, and readily expressed his love without hesitation.  For his grandsons, Tom was an important mentor, calm driving teacher, and an overall much-loved presence in their lives. He is fondly remembered as a loving, caring, and kind person and will be greatly missed.

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