WESTFIELD – With the 52nd Annual BayState Noble Ball happening on October 29 at the MassMutual Center, it is generated towards funding the community of Westfield’s local hospital, Noble Hospital.
As the recent past Noble Ball’s at MassMutual have produced around 700 guests with several unique themes, a great dinner, dance, and live auction, the tradition is truly historic.
Going back to 1959, at the first ever Noble Ball, the event has come so far, with several special pieces that have come along the way.
An important part of the tradition roots right back to the significant amount of people that have had a strong commitment to not only the event, but to Noble Hospital.
During that first Noble Ball in 1959, Mary O’Neil remembers being asked to attend the ball. Although she unfortunately couldn’t attend, it’s safe to say she made up for it.
“After that, I attended just about every ball,” said O’Neil.
The 1974 Noble Ball was one that O’Neil certainly attended as she was the chair.
O’Neil started off her involvement with the Noble Ball as a member of the auxiliary committee, designed to find a chair or co-chairman’s, pick a theme, and establish the ball.
“They (auxiliary) just paved the way to have the social events supporting the hospital,” said O’Neil. “Then from there, it just took off.”
Every year of the Noble Ball has been focused on the local community of Westfield and Noble Hospital. (WNG File Photo)
In the early 1970’s, the Noble Ball started at the old Westfield Armory. As years passed, O’Neil said that people began to grow more interest in having a dinner and dance combined together rather than separately.
In 1971, the auxiliary committee was able to put together an event called the “Follies.” A production company from New York was hired to put on a show in a matter of a few weeks. It was a mix of people with show talents as well as just normal people who wanted to simply raise money for the Noble Ball. The 1971 Follies was called the Noble Jesters. Every year, the Follies would have a different and unique name. The Follies would last until August of 1993.
In 1983, the dinner and dance combination was formed at Shaker Farms Country Club, and would repeat at the same venue in 1984.
Carol Kauffman remembers when Westfield Bank was a venue for the Noble Ball. The main floor of the building was used along with a big conference room in the basement level of the bank. Music was set off to the side of the basement along with a dance floor.
Smaller venues provided by the community businesses will always be a special part of the Noble Ball.
“We just can’t say enough about how supportive the local businesses are,” said Kauffman.
Kauffman was a co-chair for the 1992 Noble Ball. Like O’Neil, Kauffman started in the auxiliary committee and worked her way up.
Both O’Neil and Kauffman have been involved with just about every position with the Noble Ball that you possibly can be a part of. As Kauffman was also a board member for years, O’Neil was also a Vice President of Development and Community Relations for Noble Hospital from 1993 until 2006.
As the auxiliary committee stopped in the mid-1990’s and a committee formed by Noble Hospital was in charge for selecting the chairman’s of every Noble Ball, O’Neil and Kaufman continued to see the great progress being made year in and year out.
“When we hit significant milestones, we were always saying, “How could we ever top this,”” said Kauffman.
In recent years, the milestones got even larger when the attendance numbers grew and the MassMutual Center became the new venue for the Noble Ball.
While neither O’Neil nor Kauffman will be able to attend this year’s ball, it is still certainly in their minds. Kauffman says that she has periodically been going on her phone sending out bids for the live auction that will be happening during this year’s ball.
With so many memories that O’Neil and Kauffman have both experienced over the years being involved with the Noble Ball, it has always been the community aspect that has always been the highlight.
“I think part of the fun of the ball is that you get to see people from the community that maybe you don’t interact with them in your day to day life,” said Kauffman. “To me, that’s half the fun of it.”
Not one single memory has ever stood out to O’Neil or Kauffman. Having been a part of such a long tradition, there’s not a year goes by that doesn’t affect them in a positive way.
“I’ve always prided myself in the fact that when people have asked me about my connection with Noble Hospital,” said O’Neil. “I have many connections with Noble in many different areas.”
