Mr Maurice W Noxon
2 January 1933 - 30 November 2021
Maurice was born on 2nd January 1933, at home in Hall Green, and was the only child of Leah and Richard Noxon.
Having left Sharmans Cross School at the age of 15, Moss joined Prestages Car Company as a clerk in the accounts department. After a few months he left to join the account office at the G.E.C Witton for better wages.
In his spare time, at the age of 16, Maurice joined a cycle team in Sparkbrook named The Tigers, and this is where he met Carley who was a spectator at one of their meetings. They courted for six and a half years, in which time Maurice enlisted in the RAF in January 1951, serving for four years and became Corporal, serving in the accounts.
He was demobbed in January 1955 and joined Bakelite in Tyseley with whom he remained for 31 years in which time he became accounts manager. Always a sportsman, Maurice played football and cricket for Bakelite until he was 42 years of age.
Maurice and Carley were married on 11th August 1956 at St. James Church in Shirley and on 28th November 1959 they were blessed with a lovely daughter, Michelle. On 1st June 1962 they were again blessed with a lovely daughter Louise. Maurice was very proud of his two girls who both achieved top standards in their school careers.
Maurice was a keen gardener, and at one time in the 1960’s grew 300 chrysanthemums at his father-in-law’s small holding in Tanworth-in-Arden and sold them on at a profit – he always had a good head for saving! At his own home in Earlswood, Maurice, who loved to be outside, grew enough fruit and vegetables to freeze for ten months.
In 1983, Bakelite closed in Tyseley with the result that Maurice was made redundant. A new job quickly followed, however, when he joined the N.E.C as a car park supervisor in charge of a team of men who collected car parking money, which he would then have to bank. It was a job so different from his years at Bakelite but he enjoyed the change very much. Unfortunately, after four years Maurice endured a back injury and was laid up for six months at home. While watching TV he found a programme on gliding for people who suffered a back injury. He joined a gliding club in Snitterfield near Stratford in 1986 and passed his bronze, silver and passenger carrying flight tests. After enjoying this sport for 16 years, Maurice eventually retired at the age of 70.
Carley never learned to drive a car, so living out in Earlswood was difficult with Maurice unable to drive for six months as there was no public transport available. They therefore moved to a bungalow in Shirley which was close to all the local amenities.
After enjoying camping across England as well as abroad from 1972 with their children, they were blessed in having two lovely granddaughters, Marie was born in 1987 and Heather in 1988, and from the age of two, they had the joy of taking them camping until they were aged eight. Both have made Maurice and Carley very proud of them and they have followed their mother in their chosen careers.
Maurice and Carley had a good life and travelled all different parts of the world and made some truly lovely friends. Apart from one of two illnesses they had a long and happy life, one of two tiffs along the way, but they made it and celebrated out 65th wedding anniversary last August, and were soulmates for 73 years.