Cradle to Grave

The company that paid out claims on Arthur Jr., Constance and Mary Lee had rejected the Noes’ application for a $1,000 policy on Cathy the previous March. But Mr. Noe, who worked on the side as a ward committeeman in North Philadelphia, was apparently able to use political connections to find another company to write a $1,500 policy. The application was taken in September, while Cathy was still in the hospital after the dry-cleaning-bag incident. The policy was issued on November 25th, just days after Cathy had again been admitted to the hospital.

Cathy died exactly three months after the policy was issued, and the company promptly refused to pay the claim. The application form failed to mention anything about the Noes’ other children. There was also the matter of the salesman having claimed to see Cathy in the house when he took the application, even though records showed she was in the hospital the day he visited the Noe home. Since it was unclear if the Noes or the salesman had fudged the application, a lawyer helped them get a settlement of $500.

Could one of the parents be killing these kids for the insurance money — as modest as it seemed, barely enough to cover the funerals? It had to be considered a possible motive, especially after McGillen had a troubling phone conversation with Sister Michael Marie, the nun who had offered to keep him apprised of the Noes’ adoption application. In the deluge of mail they’d received, the Noes had actually been offered several children by pregnant women who had read about them, but they preferred to use the local Catholic Children’s Bureau. Sister Marie reported that the Noes had attended one of the group meetings the Bureau held for prospective parents. When asked afterward how he felt about the meeting, Mr. Noe reportedly expressed surprise that no one had asked “whether one was permitted to insure an adopted child.” Sister Marie told the investigator this was most unusual; in fact, she couldn’t remember anyone else ever bringing the subject up.

Even though the Noes had been told when they made their application that it would take at least nine months to get a child, they couldn’t understand why the church was taking so long. When a Bulletin reporter was sent to their house for a human-interest story on a slow news day — only five months after Cathy’s death — they complained to him that the agency was “dragging its feet.” But before nine months were up, the adoption wait was over. McGillen learned that the Noes had withdrawn their application.

Mrs. Noe was pregnant. She had come in, Sister Marie recalled, “very exuberant as she announced the news to the nuns,” who noticed “that her whole manner and outward appearance was different.” McGillen called the Noes’ physician, Dr. Gangemi, to confirm the news.

”Yes, unfortunately, I’m afraid that’s true,” he said. In fact, Gangemi wanted to know if there was anything the M.E. could do to relieve him of the responsibility of caring for Mrs. Noe. When informed of the pregnancy, the medical examiner himself contacted the Department of Health’s special Maternal & Infant Care Project to see if they might be able to intervene.

But all anyone could do was watch, wait and worry.

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