Man Who Poked Fun At Elmhurst Dies At 57

ELMHURST, IL – These days, it's fashionable to fire off zingers on social media, often with little thought.

Elmhurst's Dave Noble, 57, wasn't that guy.

The local satirist, who worked the restaurant and bar scene for years in Elmhurst, died after a 1½-year battle with cancer.

Perhaps one of his biggest contributions to the community was the website, The Elmhurst Funion.

Noble, a 1986 York High School graduate, provided a humorous take on Elmhurst, without any apparent political agenda.

He was said to enjoy writing. He graduated with a journalism degree from Northern Illinois University.

In November 2024, a fundraiser was held for Noble at The Club Shot & Beer to help him in his fight against cancer. He had recently been diagnosed with terminal Stage 4 cancer.

Noble's website was a local version of The Onion, a national satirical publication.

His last post on the Funion website was Nov. 23, 2024, shortly after the fundraiser.

He wrote it during the debate over whether the city needed a new police station. The city argued the station was rundown and insufficient for the department's needs.

A few months later, local aldermen approved going ahead with a new station. This week, a city committee is set to decide on the building's details.

In his last piece, Noble provided a tongue-in-cheek version of the station's needs.

He led off with the department's fictitious issues – "the growing necessity for an electric chair and an overfilled evidence room that includes water bongs and an ounce of low-grade marijuana confiscated from a 1986 house party." (A coincidence that Noble picked his graduation year?)

Then, Noble's account had Mayor Scott Levin calling for replacing the combination locks in the department's lockup with a modern deadbolt system.

Noble's version of Police Chief Michael McLean was concerned with the station's embarrassingly low Yelp rating of 1.5.

"We don't even have the room to process and hold the number of people we arrest for retail theft at Kohl's every day," the chief supposedly lamented.

In an interview Monday, Noble's sister, Susan Pelafas, remembered her brother's 2023 piece on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' visit to Elmhurst as he explored a presidential run.

In preparation, Elmhurst residents sought to disguise every shred of the town's "wokeness" from the anti-woke warrior governor, in Noble's humorous version of events. That meant concealing all references to Black History Month and temporarily removing all "Elmhurst is For Everyone" signs.

Noble's Levin revealed that Hawthorne Elementary's first grade class would sing the ABCs to DeSantis, but eliminate the letters L, G, B, T, Q, I and A.

Pelafas called her brother "very insightful on the politics of America, particularly of Elmhurst."

"He enjoyed poking fun at the political correctness in Elmhurst," she said.

Over the years, Noble managed several establishments in Elmhurst. At the time of his diagnosis, he was the beer garden manager at Elmhurst's The Club Shot & Beer, according to his LinkedIn page.

"He was very prominent in developing their outdoor beer garden," Pelafas said. "He made it something extra special. It was something that people really enjoyed."

Noble took his work seriously, she said.

"He wanted everything spotless and clean and set up the way it should be set up," Pelafas said. "He wanted things to be perfect."

Noble died April 21, the 19th anniversary of his brother Kevin Noble's death.