Mrs. Noakes, a very competent pianist, lent her talents to other musicians by being on call at all times as an accompanist for festivals, concerts, and church choirs of many denominations. Without her, the city might have missed many musical treats. The good accompanist is all too frequently forgotten.
Mrs. and Mrs. Noakes also distributed tickets for the annual Celebrity Concerts, Jeuness Musicale or other touring groups — time consuming voluntary service.
As soon as the Noakes arrived in 1944, Mrs. Noakes became United Church choir organist, succeeding Mrs. Sherlock and Mrs. Clare Shaver. She began giving music lessons, preparing students for the Western Board of Music examinations until Mrs. Estelle Ross of Toronto Conservatory of Music took over. Mrs. Sherlock, Mrs. Frank Ryan, Sr., Mrs Barrett, Mr. Lorne Johnson, and Burroughs (Smith) had done what they could to further music lessons during the extremely trying days of the Alaska Highway construction and the oil and gas boom which followed. Thanks to Mrs. Noakes, serious music students who would otherwise have had to give it up could carry on with their studies.
Mrs. and Mrs. Noakes gave their support to the purchase of the grand piano for the Senior Secondary School auditorium, the first good piano in the district for public use.
Mrs. Noakes also worked with the Notre Dame Independent School dancing classes as accompanist for a long time, until the music store business demanded all of her time.
Quiet, unpaid, unobtrusive time-consuming service such as this deserves to be remembered for the enrichment it afforded to people in a pioneer area.