Apart from a break for military service in World War II and a brief stab at a Hollywood film career, Noel spent nearly his entire professional life at the theater set among the eucalyptus groves of San Diego’s Balboa Park. He was named resident director in 1947, and even though he turned over the position of artistic director to Jack O’Brien, his hand-picked successor, in 1982, he never relinquished his leadership role.