Noe Gonzalez was born in Port Isabel in 1919 and was the first baby delivered in this area by the late D.J. Hockaday. Noe attended the Point Isabel schools and graduated from high school in 1938. He played on the Tarpon basketball team.
They captured the Valley championship in 1937. In those days the team played on a hard dirt floor; there was no gym and there also was no classification system, so this championship was quite an accomplishment for the Tarpons.
Noe was also on the rooster of PI’s first baseball team.
The greatest resentment of his life was that he was not able to attain a college degree. He was self-educated and in his leisure time he always found time to read; he was an avid reader. Listening to the news radio was also something in his daily routine.
In 1942 he attended the HarlingenArmyGunnerySchool. They practiced on the pre-developed South Padre Island before the first bridge went up in 1952. He also took training as a radio operator.
During this time, Noe served as a technical sergeant in the Army Air Force and belonged to the 327th Bombardment Squadron. He served as radio operator and gunner on the B-17 Flying Fortress on 25 missions as a staff sergeant in the U.S. Army Air Corps before it became the U.S. Air Force.
He received citations from Gen. Jimmy Doolittle, who was the commander who led the raid on Tokyo in 1942 in revenge for the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Gen. Doolittle gave Noe citation medals before he left England to head back home to the United States.
On behalf of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Noe was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal and three Oak Leaf Clusters. The citations were for extraordinary achievements.
Gonzalez was the first man to return home from the war front. The community honored him with a barbecue and a street dance on Feb. 27, 1944.
He served on a PIISD Board of Trustees in the 1960s for several terms and was an avid supporter of the Tarpon sports programs. He was lifetime resident of Port Isabel and a life member of Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic Church.
He was an active member of his beloved Port Isabel, always extending a helping hand to those in need.
Noe was 13 years old when he jumped into his father shrimp boat, working at sea for months and learning what it took to earn a dollar.
At a very young age, he mastered the skills of making and repairing fishing nets. He spent much of his adult life self-employed.
Around Port Isabel Noe was one of the best at his craft. In fact, he was so proficient that others who were engaged in the same business came to him for advice. Noe worked with the sound of the radio in the background — not necessarily listening to music but tuned in to the latest news of the day. Beyond his shop, he was an avid reader who could discuss any world event with in-depth knowledge.
His shop was neat, clean and well organized, with every tool in its place and every stick well defined. Those that knew his work would say he was a genius with the needle and twine. There was no machine to help him produce a finished product; it was all done by hand.
Noe always gave credit to his dad for teaching him the Do’s and Don’ts of the art and science of making nets. It’s a lost art today.
It was a complicated trade, but Noe made it look easy!
Rene Torres lives in Brownsville.
