Obituary: Noah Ram, 17, Of Durham

Information via Biega Funeral Home

DURHAM, CT — To meet Noah Ram was to see life blooming before you, especially through music. From his earliest years, he expressed powerful emotions beautifully through mature, complex pieces, his hands racing over the piano keys. “Noah…he smiles despite himself,” his mother wrote after one concert. “He is joyful up there and I think his audience smiles watching him, too.”

Noah, a rising senior at The Frederick Gunn School, died on August 11, 2022 in a car accident in Middlefield, CT. He was 17. He was taking the long way home from a workout at the gym, one of his many joys.

Noah was born on December 17, 2004 at Yale New Haven Hospital to Heather and Allan Ram. The family moved to Durham in 2000. Noah attended John Lyman and Memorial schools through fifth grade. He entered The Independent Day School in Middlefield as a sixth grader in 2016 and fully engaged in many activities there. He performed in musicals, played ultimate frisbee and basketball, ran cross country, joined the cultural enrichment group Ubuntu, and Interact, a service club.

From early on, Noah’s musical talent was obvious. He played piano primarily, but picked up eight other instruments along the way including, electric, acoustic, and bass guitars, upright bass, trumpet, French horn, melodica, and saxophone. At IDS he won the award at graduation for the top instrumental music student.

After graduating from IDS, Noah attended The Frederick Gunn School, a boarding school in Washington, CT. He continued his passion for music. This spring he performed the First Movement of Beethoven’s “Pathetique” at Gunn’s Chamber Music Concert. He also was a beloved member of the community in other ways. In a speech this spring before the school, he encouraged his classmates to be good role models, sharing his own techniques of being an example for his beloved younger brother, Dylan.

Outside of school, Noah was a Life Scout in Troop 270 in Durham. He and his mother Heather traveled with the troop to Normandy, France in 2019 to honor those who gave their lives there during World War II. He sang “God Bless America” there before a crowd of thousands. The members of his troop plan to finish his Eagle Scout Project, building two octagonal picnic tables in Allyn Brook Park. He will be posthumously awarded his Jiu Jitsu Black belt. He played baseball with the Little League in Durham for many years. Noah loved lifting weights and cars. He regularly posted pictures of himself as he grew from a tall, slim boy to a young man focused on physical fitness. He was always a gifted artist. He posted his drawings on Instagram. They show the evolution of a boy drawing cartoon characters, to a young man experimenting with more sophisticated work that included Anime and nature scenes and drawings of cars, one of his passions.

This summer Noah worked for Durham Park and Recreation as a counselor at their Playground Camp. It was canceled on the Friday after his death, in his memory.

Noah loved his family and they adored him back. When he was a kindergartener, riding the bus to school for the first time, he saved a seat up front for his big sister Jocelyn. She had just become old enough to sit in the back with the third and fourth graders, but opted to stay up front with her little brother. His parents were always there for concerts, games, award ceremonies for school or scouts cheering on Noah at every opportunity.

Noah is survived by his loving parents, Heather and Allan, his big sister Jocelyn and younger brother Dylan, his grandparents Sylvie Ram, Alvania Miller, Sam and Laura Ram, his Aunts and Uncles Amanda and Dave Bachan, Alicia and Gianmario Civitello, Hema and Tracy Ford, Tory Harris, and Kristen Noelle Miller Hatcher and Cornell Hatcher. Noah was fortunate to have a tight-knit relationship with his cousins Ayiana and Jason Ford, Taylor Allen, Ezekiel and Zadie Hatcher who will feel his absence forever. Noah was predeceased by his grandparents Deborah Gray Jekkals and Harvey Miller.

A memorial service will be held from 10:30 am to 12:00 pm Wednesday, August 17 at Biega Funeral Home in Middletown. Calling hours will be on Tuesday, August 16 from 4 to 7 pm, also at Biega.

The family asks that contributions in Noah’s memory be made to the music program at The Frederick Gunn School or to Durham’s Playground Camp program.