Noe Guerra

Born on November 12, 1927 to Esteban and Rita Guerra, Noe was the fourth of the six Guerra siblings — after Adam, Eva, Israel, Sara, and before Oscar Luis — and eventually an older brother to Virginia and Cesar through his mother’s second marriage.

After his birth, the family returned to his parents’ hometown of Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico where he was raised and educated through high school. In addition to being gifted in the language arts and literature, Noe was also a talented amateur baseball player on local and regional clubs throughout his teen years with a reputation for being a sharp pitcher who could also play third base and shortstop.

Noe returned to the United States in 1947 — at first working as a migrant farm worker in Texas and then Colorado. He then accepted an invitation from his mother’s sister, Hermiña, and her husband, Arnulfo, to join them in New York City in 1949, the city he called home for the next 20 years.

His first job in New York was as a dock day laborer, but while walking home early one morning after failing to get work for the day, Noe stopped to help a man who had lost control of a rack of clothes he was taking between warehouses, preventing the loss of hundreds of dollars of inventory. Asked to return the next day to see about temporary stockroom work, Noe was soon hired full time and eventually became a senior account manager at the major clothing and housewares wholesaler Kirby Block. Among his most vivid memories were the visits with representatives of major retailers from Europe — among them Selfridge’s (UK) and other national brands — who shared with him the realities of rebuilding in the aftermath of World War II.

In 1951, Noe set aside his career in prêt-à-porter to honor his call up for the Korean War draft. He served in the United States Army honorably and with distinction, finishing his career as a sergeant and under consideration for officer training — which he considered, but ultimately declined. His tours included guard duty in occupied Berlin and a stint in military communications, during which he learned about the development of visuals and messaging that the world would eventually associate with popular Cold War propaganda and ephemera on both sides.

Upon his discharge from the military, Noe returned to New York City and his employer, Kirby Block, enjoying all that was mid-20th century American life — and history — in the Big Apple and on the East Coast in the late 1950s through the 1960s. Having met Iris Rodriguez at her 16th birthday party just before leaving for boot camp, Noe asked her to be his wife in 1969, marrying her in February 1970. Their only daughter, Erica, was born in 1971 — and just a year later, following family and perhaps just a bit tired of New York winters, Noe and Iris moved to Anaheim, California, sight unseen, and settled there for almost 50 years within blocks of the Disneyland entrance and within sight of its nightly fireworks.

Noe was hired by an aeronautics company that eventually became Sunstrand Aviation. He was promoted to senior supervisor of its shipping logistics division and was always immensely proud of the company’s operating ethics and products — some of which were used on the original generation of Space Shuttles — and samples of which he used at home as paperweights.

Noe retired from Sunstrand in 1989 and enjoyed a healthy and active retirement for close to 30 years, traveling with Iris to visit family and friends throughout the US, Mexico, and Puerto Rico. He enjoyed many hours of conversation, connection, and pool at the City of Santa Ana (CA) Senior Center and went on countless road trips and other adventures with a close knit group of family friends that hailed from countries across Latin America.

During retirement, he returned to many passions and hobbies long ignored during his working days, including but not limited to: gardening his beloved fruit trees, furniture building, childhood recipe recreation, and avidly following Angel, Yankee, and Dodger baseball, as well as professional boxing.

Noe, a lifelong observant Roman Catholic, remained a lover of poetry, music, and dogs all his life, forever fond of and wistful about his two Ridgeback companions, Master and Yaqui. His health and mobility declined in his final years, but he was constantly surrounded by the love and care of family and friends throughout all his days.

Noe is survived by his wife of over 50 years, Iris, his daughter Erica Guerra, and her husband, Lawrence Hindle. He is also mourned by his surviving sister, Virginia, a multitude of cousins, nephews, and nieces, and close friends from every part of his life across California, Texas, New York, and Mexico. After private funeral services, Noe’s final resting place will be Fairhaven Memorial Park in Santa Ana, CA.

Our family thanks everyone for their kindness and love during this time of grief and mourning. Please know we welcome your support, contact, and all your memories of Noe, a man of great presence we loved and were so very happy to share with you all.