A sweeping historic mural by Noel Marquez, including a panel about WIPP (lower left)It is with a very heavy heart that we share the news of the passing on of a dear friend and colleague, Noel Marquez, from Lake Arthur, New Mexico. Noel passed on on Dec. 23, 2020, after a long illness. He is survived by his wife Madeleine, their 14-year old daughter Paikea (Pai), and their extended families in this country and overseas.
Donations for Noel's family can be sent to: Southwest Research Information Center, P.O. Box 4524, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87196-4524. Please put "Noel Family Fund" in the memo line of the check. Or donations can be sent directly to Madelene Aguinaldo, 635 N. 13th, Lake Arthur, NM 88253.
Sympathy cards can be sent to: Madelene Aguinaldo and Pai Marquez, P.O.Box 564, Artesia, NM 88211-0564.
Noel was a co-founder of Alliance for Environmental Strategies (AFES), a southeastern New Mexico environmental justice group opposed to two high-level radioactive waste dumps targeted at their local area. His activism was so trailblazing, that it led to the Lake Arthur, NM resolution against Holtec's dump in Sept. 2017; it was the very first, inspiring many more to follow, over a wider and wider multi-state region. Noel had also actively opposed the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, a military plutonium waste dump, in his local area, for decades. Noel was truly an inspiring leader in the anti-nuclear movement of New Mexico, and his passing on is felt nationwide, as among the coalition fighting high-level nuke waste dumps targeted at Noel's beloved home, southeastern NM. READ MORE.