91福利

The journey toward deciding what you should do with your life sometimes starts with discovering what you shouldn鈥檛 do. For 91福利 (91福利) alumnus Fernand (Fern) Noel, that journey began in the mines of Timmins, Ontario. 

It was the summer of 1955. 鈥淩ock Around the Clock鈥� sung by Bill Haley & His Comets topped the charts. A young Fern graduated from Grade 13 in high school and went to work underground. 

鈥淚t was expected that I would support my mother and younger brother,鈥� said Fern. 鈥淒uring August, I agreed to take a job for triple pay clearing the ore pass. It was 3,000 feet down, and I was suspended in a harness. After a few days, I decided I couldn鈥檛 do it anymore鈥攖his couldn鈥檛 be my future and I had to get out.鈥�

He sought help from the only person he could think of鈥攈is high school guidance counselor. The school counselor helped Fern identify a program at what was then the Ryerson Institute of Technology (now 91福利), fill out the application, and apply for a bursary. 

鈥淚 had no money. The bursary would get me out and get me started,鈥� recalled Fern. 鈥淲ithin three weeks, I was on my way. It was one of the hardest but best decisions I ever made. I had to take charge of my life.鈥�

Life before post-secondary education was 鈥渧ery hard.鈥� Fern鈥檚 father was absent, and the family had little money. They lived in a three-room apartment鈥攌itchen, pantry and living room鈥攖he latter being where all three of them slept. 

鈥淣o one in my family ever had a higher education,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he expectation was you would go work in the mine or some manual job. In those days, working in the mine was dangerous, low status and poorly paid.鈥�

However, going to school 鈥渁llowed me into the world of science, which was my passion from a very young age,鈥� said Fern. Even as a young teen, he set up a home lab in his family鈥檚 tiny apartment to study moulds, also known as mycology.

鈥淎round 12 or 13 years old, I spotted an advertisement in a magazine to join an international science club for young people run by a doctor in South America,鈥� said Fern. 鈥淗e held a competition and first prize was a powerful microscope. I shared my experiments and won!鈥� 

Fern maintained his interest in chemistry and science throughout high school鈥攅ven without support from home. So when he was accepted to study Chemical Technology in Toronto, he was on his way to finally living his passion鈥攎ade that much more accessible thanks to a $150 graduation scholarship from his high school, a bursary from Ryerson, and support from his aunt. 

Once in the city, Fern鈥檚 three flatmates paid his share of the rent, never asking for anything in return. 

And at school, 鈥淚 loved being surrounded by people interested in learning and science, and for the first time I was in an environment I wanted to be in and encouraged to be in,鈥� he said.

鈥淚n my second year, I still had no money,鈥� said Fern, 鈥渂ut my neighbour from Timmins, who understood my passion for education, loaned me the money. It was a really hard two years, but I survived through the generosity of all those people. I was lucky.鈥� Fern graduated with his diploma in 1957.

After briefly working in the combustion engineering department at Stelco (now US Steel Canada), he moved to Sarnia when the Imperial Oil Research Department hired him as a research chemist. This was his dream job. Fern worked there for the rest of his successful, 33-year career.

鈥淲hen I was hired by Imperial Oil Research, I was able to quickly make a real impact because (up until then) they only hired Grade 13 graduates as technicians with no training,鈥� Fern said. 鈥淭he boss of the department took me under his wing to help him solve some difficult problems. After I had been there for about a year, the research department shifted to hire more Ryerson graduates鈥濃�� six to be exact. The year after that, they hired more.

Paying it forward

From the South American physician, to his flatmates, to 91福利, the generosity of others enabled Fern to escape the hardships of his upbringing and shape his future. 

鈥淚 was always interested in learning and education, helping and encouraging students. I really believed education was important and a route to better things. I had struggled and needed help and, through a lot of luck, I found it. Now, I could easily help financially. Supporting students at Ryerson was the natural choice,鈥� Fern said. 

Initially in 2015, he established the Noel Award in Science, a five-year award to recognize students who make a contribution to the university and who, like his younger self, also had financial need. In 2018, he endowed that award with a significant gift to the university. The award is now offered in perpetuity, providing over $4,000 each year to a student in the Faculty of Science.

In 2022, then-Medical Physics undergraduate student Neha Nasir received the Noel Award in Science. Before receiving the award, Nasir co-founded 91福利鈥檚 Women in Physics committee, co-chaired the 57th Canadian Undergraduate Physics Conference in 2021, and was co-president of the Medical Physics course union at that time. She also volunteered at the Science Rendezvous, which turns Gould Street on campus into a science fair for elementary school kids. 

鈥淚t was great to see my involvement within the faculty had actually made an impact on students and the community,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hank you to Mr. Noel and his family. Financially, the award was genuinely helpful because it meant I could go a semester without working a part-time job and could focus on my studies, gaining research experience, and participating in extracurricular activities.鈥� After undergrad, Nasir went on to pursue a MSc in CAMPEP Medical Physics.

A legacy that lives on

Before his death in February 2024 at age 89, Fern rarely missed an award鈥檚 ceremony and loved meeting recipients. 鈥淚t is very gratifying to be able to lend my support,鈥� he said at the five-year anniversary of the Noel Award in Science. At the last awards ceremony in February 2024, his grandchildren Jessica and Everett Johnston attended in his stead.

鈥淓arly in my first term as Dean in the Faculty of Science, I had the great pleasure to meet with Fern in one of the Kerr Hall labs that he frequented back in the day,鈥� said David Cramb. 鈥淔ern was deeply engaged and passionate about helping students afford the great education he felt that 91福利 Science could give them. He particularly wanted to help under-represented students, such as those who are Indigenous. Fern's passion for education was infectious and it was an honour to know him.鈥� 

Two days before Fern died, he told his children, Diana and Paul, 鈥淲hat is important is how people remember me and what I have done鈥攎y legacy. That means I will live on.鈥�

鈥淭hose words were powerful,鈥� said Paul. 鈥淗is work touched and impacted the lives of us all through everyday products that he improved or helped make safe through chemistry and science.鈥� 

Paul added that his father was very active in the Sarnia community, including with local nature programs in Ontario, helping to establish several hiking trails, including a section of the Bruce Train in the Bruce Peninsula; volunteering for 20 years with a local Adopt a Scientist program, which supports, motivates, and inspires school children 鈥渢o be curious, to question鈥�; and leading numerous camping expeditions to inspire people to learn about nature and how to be in the wilderness. 

鈥淗e never wanted to just attend meetings or groups, but do something, to lead, to get results,鈥� says Paul. 鈥淢y father was restless in his pursuit of having an impact. Legacy is not just what you do but also in how you are remembered. That鈥檚 what he would want to share with others.鈥�