My Aunt Betty reports that the name is Earle, with an e at the end, reflecting his mother’s naming him after her French doctor.15 It appears with and without the final vowel in various records. His signature on the World War I draft registration card is Earl Pierre Nolan.16 Earle is a common form later on. The Social Security Death index shows him as Earle, so presumably that was the way he filled out his application for a Social Security number and card.

I remember him as a very kind and warm man, who was interested in boy’s things, in particular tools. Betty reports the same warm impression by her boys. After some hesitation, my father took to him and came eventually to regard him pretty much as a father.9