MINNEOLA - Noel D. Rooney, age 88, of Minneola, Kansas, passed away December 16, 2023, at Las Cruces, NM, after a long battle with cancer.  Born in Dodge City, May 28, 1935, to Doris D. Rooney and George Bernard Rooney, Jr.  Noel graduated from Dodge City Senior High School in 1952.  A graduate of the University of Kansas, School of Business, 1956,he was a member of Gamma Omicron Chapter, Kappa Sigma Fraternity, where he served as treasurer, and was elected to Alpha Chapter of Beta Gamma Sigma, national business honorary society. He had a wide range of good friends.

During WWII he lived in Mechanicsburg, PA, while his father was in the Navy and attended Siler Junior School and Harrisburg Academy taking the fourth and fifth grades in one year.  Returning to Dodge City, he was placed a year ahead. Becoming a member of First Presbyterian Church as a young teen, he participated in the youth group.  He attended the historic Valley Forge Boy Scout Jamboree.  For several summers he went to Camp Lincoln in Minnesota, where he learned to sail, canoed from the origins of the Mississippi River and won many national awards in riflery including Sharpshooter.

Noel played golf and tennis into his 80's.  He lettered in golf in high school and at K.U.  In college he began playing bridge and it became his favorite challenge.  He played duplicate bridge at the Belton Bridge Center in Las Cruces and was working toward the Life Master level.  He and the family skied in Colorado with friends each winter.

Graduating at the top of his class at K.U., Noel was courted by a number of major corporations, but chose to live in a small community, be his own boss and have more time for his family and leisure activities.  He served as President of Peoples State Bank in Minneola, now Centera Bank, from 1957 to 2005.    He served on the Minneola hospital board, the City Commission, the Housing Authority and various other community activities.

Noel met his new neighbor, Sharon Theis, in high school.  He proposed marriage at Christmas 1955, when she was a Junior at K.U. and he was a Senior.  They were married August 5, 1956, at First Presbyterian Church, Dodge City, and he took a graduate year so she could finish her degree.  During that year Noel graded papers for the Business School and they acted as "house parents" in a men's student boarding house.  They were married for 67 years.

Noel is survived by sons Michael N. Rooney, and wife Catherine Arroyo Rooney, of Dodge City, KS; H. Davis Rooney and wife Marijo Teare Rooney, of Hays, KS; Fredric T. Rooney of Las Cruces, NM; daughter-in-law Brenna Lloyd Rooney of Valley Falls, KS; seven grandchildren and one great-grandson.  He was preceded in death by a son, Patrick Timothy Rooney, his brother George Bernard Rooney III, his nephew George B. Rooney IV, and parents Doris D. Rooney and George Bernard Rooney, Jr.

In lieu of flowers, gifts are suggested to Mesilla Valley Hospice, 299 N. Montana Ave., Las Cruces, NM 88005; First Presbyterian Church, 803 Central Avenue, Dodge City, KS 67801; or Belton Bridge Center, 1214 E. Madrid Ave., Las Cruces NM 88001.