Noal Ole Quickstrom

Noal Ole Quickstrom was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota on April 28, 1936, to Nestor Ole Quickstrom and Anna Habas Quickstrom. He was the oldest of four children and the only boy. He started accordion lessons when he was about eight and became very accomplished. It was a joy to listen to him practice every day. He and his dad cut some homemade vinyl records together—his dad playing the mouth organ and Noal the accordion. He played drums for a while and the trombone in the high school band. Noal loved to draw and had an art book in which he drew things around the house. He drew pictures on the back of wallpaper sheets that his dad had left over from some of his jobs. He wanted to become an industrial designer. He was a jokester—always wanting to make his family and others laugh or smile.

He went into the Army right out of high school with his friend Larry Chadwick. He did his basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. He went on to become a cryptographer in the Army and was stationed in Germany for the next three years. While there he bought a Volkswagen and was able to take trips into Scandinavia and around Europe. He had it shipped home at the end of his tour.

He was released from the Army early when his father died September 15, 1957. He never made it to the funeral because he contracted a severe viral pneumonia. He stopped in New York to look up some friends he had made while on a trip to Denmark. If he had decided to drive directly home instead of stopping in New York, the doctors told him he would have never made it to Minnesota. He was hospitalized in New York for about four weeks. His case was so unusual doctors would use him as an example in training medical students.

He served a three-year mission to Finland. Finnish was a difficult language. He said people would talk to the missionaries as they would to children—more slowly and using simple language. He taught his sister Arlene to drive his VW which she did while he was on his mission. Following his desire to learn about art, he went to the Minneapolis School of Art and graduated in industrial design.

He never did like the cold Minnesota winters, so he decided to go to California. He met and married a widow with five children, Shirley Maxine Burton in December 1970. He wanted to help her raise her children. Together they had one daughter, Beverly Melinda. They raised their family in Sylmar, California.

Not finding the type of work he wanted in the industrial design area, he took a job working for Los Angeles County.

He was a faithful member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and had many callings among which were bishop and temple worker. He shared the gospel all through his life and was instrumental in several conversions after his mission. Noal and Shirley went as a senior missionary couple to the Mesa Arizona Temple.

Shirley passed away December 19, 2003. Noal married his second wife, Annette Winder, in 2005 and have been happily married for 16 years. They moved to Cedar City, Utah for several years and later moved north to Ogden to be closer to Arlene. Noal was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Dementia while living in Cedar City. Annette has been his devoted caregiver and especially during this last year when he had strokes, falls, and infections. He passed away October 25, 2021, at the age of 85.

He is survived by his wife, Annette; his daughter Beverly Tsimanis (Mark), grandsons Ryan and Daniel Tsimanis, his sisters Merle Needham (Lee deceased), Arlene Quickstrom; and Beverly Berke (Jack deceased), and extended family. Noal was a sweet, humble soul who liked to make his family and others laugh, even in his final days. He will be welcomed by his parents, two brothers-in-law, and many cousins.

He will have a military burial November 1, 2021, at the Utah Veterans Memorial Park in Bluffdale, Utah.