Mr John Richard and Mrs Eileen May Noton-Dale

In early October 2021 The University of Notre Dame Australia received a generous bequest from the Estate of John Richard (1922 - 2016) and Eileen May Noton-Dale (1932 - 2020)

The donation from John and Eileen (known as Sue) has established The Noton-Dale Medical Research Scholarship for students undertaking a Doctor of Philosophy degree at the Fremantle campus, who have demonstrated excellence in academic achievement. The scholarship aims to encourage and support training and a career in medical research.

The gift and life of John and Sue were celebrated with an afternoon tea with their family hosted by the Chancellor and Vice Chancellor at the Fremantle campus, followed by Evensong celebration at the Holy Spirit Chapel.

As the Vice Chancellor affirmed

"This significant gift we have received, in addition to their many gifts made over the years, certainly speaks volumes of the generosity of John and Sue. It also, however, speaks to other qualities of their character – qualities such as loyalty, steadfastness, vision, patience, dedication and self-giving – traits that we hope to form in our students here at the University. The fact that John and Sue have taken such an interest in Notre Dame as a university shows also that they clearly valued the importance of education, of research, of knowledge, of understanding, and of the seeking of truth and wisdom."

 

Sue was born in Gwalia and trained at the Leonora Hospital. As she wished to obtain her nursing qualifications, she applied and was accepted into the 1950 intake at Royal Perth Hospital, an extraordinary feat in those times for a female in her teens from the country. Sue understood more than most the importance of medical services in the bush and beyond, and dedicated herself to the nursing profession and in later life at St Joseph’s Hospital, Bicton, where she met John.

John was born in Yorkshire and served in the British Navy during World War II as a radio technician. After the war and despite his high aptitude for mathematics and science, his desire to study medicine at university eluded him. He subsequently came to Australia and embarked on a career in civil aviation and in the latter part of his life with the ABC.

John and Sue married in 1987 and lived in Applecross.

Throughout their lives John and Sue were very generous with their causes in the community. It is hardly surprising therefore that both had a yearning to ensure their wishes to contribute to The University of Notre Dame Australia when it was established in 1989. Subsequently they planned in their twilight years to make a significant donation to the University’s School of Medicine as a result of their interest in medicine and to the further advancement of the Fremantle campus at Notre Dame, Western Australia’s only private university.

In the words of John and Sue’s family

We hope that the recipients of The Noton-Dale Medical Research Scholarship will further develop the postgraduate love of learning in medical research and know that the spirit of John and Sue is with them in their ongoing endeavours. John and Sue’s vision of a generous proposition to worthy medical recipients is now materialised and fulfilled. We wish those awarded the scholarship well in the future.

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