NOEL W. Young

In the countryside of west central Wisconsin, Noel Young had a social schedule filled with time spent with his relatives.

He liked to visit his uncle and aunt, Ron and Debbie Larson, and their children on the family farm near York in Jackson County. Next door, he could spend time with his grandparents, John and Leona Larson.

Other times Noel could be found hanging out with Dave and Ginny Kappus, the uncle and aunt who lived on Lowes Creek Road. He and Dave Kappus liked to work on cars together.

"He had a great love for this area," said Young's mother, Kathy Young, who graduated from Whitehall High school but raised her three children in Newcastle, Oklahoma.

When Noel died Saturday, March 22, his mother knew he should be buried in Wisconsin instead of Oklahoma, because this was his home away from home.

"It was his dream to graduate from high school and go live in Wisconsin," said another aunt, Linda Thompson of Phoenix, Arizona. "He was living his dream."

Noel's dream ended tragically March 22 when he died from head injuries he received in an evening basketball game March 17 at DeLong Middle School.

That might Noel was sprinting down the court to make a lay-up shot when a player from the other team blocked him. They collided in the air. Noel hit the floor with his lower back and slid headfirst into the wall missing the mat by a foot and a half, said his team mate and friend, Dan Petschow of Cleghorn.

The family calls the accident just that - and accident. "Nobody here is mad at anybody," Dave Kappus said.

Early X-rays taken that Luther Hospital that evening showed a skull fracture on the right side of Noel's head along with small bruised areas in two-thirds of the brain.

But just as a bruise on a person's leg can be small one day and grow larger the next, unfortunately that's what happened with Noel's brain bruises, said Dr. Robert Narotzky, Young's neurosurgeon at Luther.

When Narotzky first tested the pressure in Noel's brain the number was in the high 30s; the normal range is up to 15. Initially Narotzky was able to medically control the pressure and provide adequate blood flow, but the pressure crept up to the high 50s, he said.

Surgery was done to remove the area with the largest bruise, which is composed of dead brain and a blood clot. "After surgery the pressure was at nine to 10, and I was hopeful," Narotzky said.

But the other bruised areas began to grow, and the pressure climbed again. "To take out more of his brain would have left him in a state no one would want to survive," he said.

Noel was a standout athlete in Newcastle, a town of about 5,000 that is 25 miles south of Oklahoma city. He lettered in football, track, and basketball. He also played soccer.

"His thing was sped; he loved to run," said Kathy Young, who gathered last week with her family members to talk about her son.

After graduating from high school, the Kappus's invited Noel to come to their home for the summer.

"We both had an interest in old cars," Dave Kappus said. "I has a couple cars he tore into, and we just kind of worked together. It was the good camaraderie of good friends."

Noel soon got a job working for Ron Erickson Excavating doing Landscaping work.

That's how Mike Paulus, 21, met Noel. "I could talk to him, which was good because landscaping can get pretty boring, tedious," he said.

Paulus found Noel was different than many other males their age. "It was nice talking to Noel because he was very unassuming, very honest," said Paulus, a junior at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.

"I guess most people I know would joke around a lot and have a lot of negative humor, but Noel didn't have that," he said, adding that Noel often talked about his family and how much fun he had with them.

At the end of summer Noel returned to Newcastle. He got a good job but was uncertain about his future in Oklahoma, Kathy Young said.

He moved back in with the Kappus's at the beginning of December with his mother's blessing.

"I felt worse about it this time because it seemed to be more permanent," Kathy young said. "But he had a peace about being here. He fit into the family."

Kathy Young, who sat by her son in the hospital and held his hand during his last week of life, takes comfort in knowing that Noel knows he was loved.

"I always made sure I told all my kids I loved them," she said. Older son Aaron is 20, and my daughter Kristen is 16.

Petchow, 20, the friend of Noel was playing basketball with the night of he accident, had only met Noel in January.

But it took those few months for Petchow to realize they would be friends for years.

After Petchow's mother and Ginny Kappus introduced the two, they played basketball together two or three times a week.

Noel also would use Petchow's computer to keep in touch with his brother through the Internet.

Petchow, a student at Chippewa Valley Technical College, didn't leave the hospital from Tuesday, March 18, until Noel died.

While sitting next to Noel he told him he would take his place in an April basketball tournament. "I told him I would play as hard as he usually does," said Petchow, a pallbearer at the funeral.

But getting back into the game they shared a love for isn't easy.

"I played basketball last night," he said. "I knew it would be a bit hard. Every time I went for a lay-up I couldn't do it."

Before his accident, Noel and Dave Kappus watched a television show about organ donation. Noel told his uncle it seemed like a good thing to do.

That helped Kathy Young and her family make the decision. Noels heart, lungs, kidneys, pancreas, liver, and tissue were donated.

Noel's funeral and burial in a
small, country cemetery
in rural Jackson County
brought together
the large, close-knit family
Noel loved to be around.

It also brought together new friends
like Petchow and Paulus.

"He was one of those people you don't meet very often," Paulus said. "He didn't understand how to be mean. It's sad that there couldn't be more people like that."

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