Noelene Jean Thomson arrived in Temple View on New Year’s Eve 1955. She was 25 and the only child of Maitland and Ruby Thomson. This year she celebrates 59 years as a resident in the Temple View area.
Her father was part of the labour missionary force working in timber distribution for many of the Church’s building projects in New Zealand, and her mother filled the needs for many of the young labour missionaries as a camp mother by washing clothes and cooking meals for the young men.
Noelene accepted an assignment to operate a little grocery store and dry cleaning depot and became part of the missionary labour force herself.
Reflecting on her first memories of Temple View she says, “When I arrived I saw a big hole in the ground and learned that the temple was going to be built there.”
She had the privilege to have a close-up view of the temple construction because her bedroom window was the closest window in the area to the temple where one could view the magnificent structure.
When the open house for the completed temple began, Noelene toured the beautiful interior of the building she had learned to love from her bedroom window.
Her insights were invaluable as she hosted visitors to Temple View who came to see the new Church College of New Zealand, also under construction, and the temple site.
“There were many curious visitors that came to Temple View,” Noelene relates, “and many questions about the school and temple were answered through these tours.”
The Bureau of Information, which is now the Visitors’ Centre was opened at the same time as the temple, April 1958. Noelene was one of the first to be hired to work there. She stayed for about five years and then accepted a position at the Church College in the library and then Hamilton City Library where she eventually retired.
Her love for people and for the Visitors’ Centre motivated her to accept another opportunity to serve in the Visitors’ Centre where she has faithfully served for more than thirteen years, the longest of any service missionary.
“Today the Centre’s focus is on family, faith, history, and Jesus Christ. The inspiring Christus statue is the focal point of the centre and adds to the Spirit and purpose of the building.”
Noelene is the source of many details from the past, her memory is keen and she is vibrant and energetic at 84 years. She adds to the spirit of the Centre with her positive attitude and her forward looking to the changes coming soon to the area. “The changes will only make Temple View a better place to live,” she says.