Resident Feature Written by Liz Burnett
Heather and Mike Noonan
The Noonans:
High School Sweethearts with 4 Lovable Kids Photos courtesy of Sierra Clark Photography www.SierraClarkPhoto.com
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e’re delighted to have you meet Broomall neighbors Mike and Heather Noonan and their four children. This family of six knows just what it takes to use the lemons life gives you to make WAY more than lemonade, perhaps even champagne! Mike and Heather both grew up in Broomall. Mike attended Cardinal O’Hara High School, and Heather attended the Academy of Notre Dame. They met the summer before Junior year, when they both worked at Bachetti Brothers Meat Market and Deli (next to Jacquette’s Bakery). Heather invited Mike to her Junior Prom, and then to her Senior Prom. By the time they both graduated from high school in 1991, Cupid’s arrow had hit its mark: They dated all through college. Mike attended Widener University, to pursue a Civil Engineering degree. His Engineering Co-Op program extended his time there; he graduated in 1997. Meanwhile, Heather attended Villanova University. She started working toward a degree in Pre-Med, but switched her major to Spanish Language & Literature with a minor in Psychology & Sociology, and graduated in 1995.
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Marple Friends & Neighbors / Bringing People Together
Heather’s decision to switch her major was literally a major decision, about not only HER future but Mike’s also. And it wasn’t a career- or vocation-based decision; it was so they could both enjoy their avocation: Being parents to children they hoped to have someday. Heather’s doctor had just advised her that due to her poor health (due to Type I diabetes since age 4) and her plan for a demanding career as a doctor, she should accept the likelihood that she’d never be able to have kids. The very next day, Heather changed her major and set her sights on the parenting future she and Mike envisioned. Through strict discipline and the ground-breaking technology for treatment of Type I diabetes, the insulin pump, new in 1993, Heather would soon be able to achieve her dream of having a family. In October 1997, Mike and Heather bought their first home, in Westtown, PA. When they got married a month later, Mike was doing residential and commercial Civil Engineering for a small company in Bryn Mawr, and Heather had been teaching Spanish at Monsignor Bonner High School for two years. She taught there two more years, until she and Mike delightedly and miraculously became parents for the first time.
