William Douglas Noël (May 11, 1914 – January 9, 1987), was an independent oilman, industrialist, banker, rancher, philanthropist, and civic leader in Odessa, Texas. Background Noël was born in Fort Worth, the son of Earnest Noël and the former Inez Turnpaugh. Orphaned at the age of six, he was reared by grandparents and an aunt and an uncle. In 1931, Noël graduated from high school in Fort Worth. In 1935, he earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of Texas at Austin. Thereafter, he worked as a roustabout for Gulf Oil Company. In 1936, he moved to the Permian Basin of West Texas to work as a chemist in the Gulf Oil Wickett refinery. His extensive endeavors in all phases of oil production soon transformed the Odessa economy into a major petrochemical complex. Noël also became involved in banking and ranching throughout Texas. With Earl G. Rodman, Sr. (1896–1976), Noël in 1956 co-founded the American Bank of Commerce in Odessa. In time, he acquired major interest in banks in Big Spring, Fort Worth, Lubbock, San Angelo, and San Antonio. In 1973, when three Noël-Rodman banks merged, Noël became a director of Texas Commerce Bancshares of Houston. In 1940, Noël moved to McCamey, now known as the "Wind Energy Capital of Texas," located in Upton County. There he joined M. H. McWhirter of Monahans and J. B. Tubb of Crane County to establish the Trebol Oil Company. Noël worked long hours for Trebol. Trebol drilled fifty-two consecutive producing wells before it struck a dry hole. Noël was so consumed with pursuits of the business that he claimed to have been unaware that he had become a millionaire until several years after the accumulation of his early fortune. Business ventures In 1946, Noël and Earl Rodman also formed a partnership with the purchase of a refinery, which they named the Odessa Natural Gasoline Company. In 1957, Noël and Rodman founded West Texas Gathering Company, which resold natural gas to residential customer of two other companies. The partners further drilled discovery wells in two fields in Upton County. In 1975, Noël purchased Fort Terrett Ranch in Sutton County near Junction, Texas. On this ranch, Noël grew Texas pecans as a commercial food source in an orchard of . He also owned orchards in Upton and Comanche counties. In 1963, Noël was named "Outstanding Citizen" of Odessa. That same year he