Noelle Goslee Smith

Noelle Goslee Smith, 80, passed away on October 8, 2025, due to injuries from a car crash. She was born on May 6, 1945 in Ohio to Ernestine Yount, a talented bassist accepted into the Eastman School of Music in 1938, and George Goslee, an accomplished bassoonist at Eastman, who went on to become the principal bassoonist of the Cleveland Orchestra for 43 years.

She attended the University of Rochester, graduating with a major/minor in Art History/English. Her command of English, wry sense of humor, and sense of word-play were employed at any opportunity to make herself or someone else laugh. She was an unparalleled editor (sorely missed at this very moment). She met Christian Wyser-Pratte at Rochester, to whom she was married for 17 years. They eventually settled outside Chicago.

Noelle played her mother’s cello for over six decades, participating in many Chicago-area symphonies and string quartets. She later married Robert C. Smith, who shared her hope of relocating to Colorado. Moving to Grand Junction in 2002 was the alignment of her desires to both live in Colorado and simultaneously play cello in The Grand Junction Symphony Orchestra, which she did with utter dedication and deep gratitude. She also played in an Irish sessions group, in regional string quartets, and at the Church of the Nativity.

Noelle gave cello lessons to Grand Valley-area students of all ages for over 20 years. She often refused to raise her rates, aware that some of her students struggled to pay what one might call a modest fee. An astute teacher, Noelle recognized the times that her most important role was simply to listen to her younger students and offer them the ear of an elder who cared, laying the foundation for trust and the love of learning music. She was willing to learn any type of music to engage her students' love of cello, from Kirtans to U2 to Nirvana.

Noelle was an accomplished black-and-white landscape photographer, showing her work in various well-known art galleries in the region. She used her father's twin-lens Rolleiflex camera (among others) and developed, dry-mounted, matted, and framed her silver-gelatin prints in her home darkroom and art studio. In her words, "geometric patterns, unexpected shafts of light, poetry in the landscape, and buildings which would be forgotten but for the photographic record" captured her eye. She has passed this eye on to her daughter, while passing her musical focus on to her son and grandson.

She was also a fly-fisher; a woman who could fix most things around her house; a traveler who joined her children on various overseas adventures; an adopter of rescued dogs; a gardener who loved marigolds and lavender (and in general all things blue); and a beloved mom, sister, aunt, and Nana. Her grandson particularly appreciated "how she approached life with a positive attitude, a strong mentality, a lively spirit, and a soul filled with hope". Her first husband described her as "sunlight".

She is predeceased by her second husband, Bob. She is survived by her daughter, Vanessa; her son, Gregory (Kasia); her grandson, Clayton; her step-daughter, Kelly (Bo); her siblings, Sarah, Kim, and George; and her step-mother, Nancy.

Her memorial will be held on Saturday, June 20th, at 10:00 am, at a private home. Please contact Snyder Memorials to get in touch with the family. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the Noelle Goslee Smith Education Fund supporting children's music education:

https://gjso.org/support/noelle-goslee-smith-education-fund/