Who Was Noel J. Mickelson? The Full Life of John Amos’ Ex-Wife

In December 2016, a woman lay dying with her family around her. She had one regret. She never got to travel and see the world. Her daughter listened and made a promise right there. She would carry her mother’s ashes across the globe.

That woman was Noel J. Mickelson. Most people online only know her by one label: “John Amos’ first wife.” But that label misses almost everything.

She was an artist. She rode horses. She worked with her hands. She raised two children who both grew up to build creative careers. And in 1965, she married the man she loved at a time when 16 states still banned interracial marriage.

In this article, we will walk through her whole story. Her small-town beginning. Her art. How she met John Amos. Their bold marriage. Their children. Her final wish. And why so little is known about her.

One honest note before we start. Most of what the public knows about Noel J. Mickelson comes from her own children’s social media posts. There is no official biography. So we will tell you what is solid, and we will tell you what is not.

Who Was Noel J. Mickelson?

Here is the short version. Noel J. Mickelson was an American artist, equestrian, and craftswoman. She was born in Iowa and spent her life far from Hollywood.

She is best known publicly as the first wife of actor John Amos. He starred in Good Times, Roots, and Coming to America. But she never chased that spotlight herself.

She and John married in 1965. They divorced in 1975, after ten years together. They had two children, Shannon Amos and Kelly Christopher “K.C.” Amos.

Her family did not call her Noel. They called her “Noni.” That name shows up again and again in her children’s posts about her.

She died in December 2016.

Noel J. Mickelson’s Early Life and Family

Noel was born in Estherville, Iowa. It is a small town in the Midwest, close to the Minnesota border. Not a place people expect a Hollywood story to start.

Her background was a mix. Her daughter Shannon has said the family was of Danish and Ashkenazi Jewish descent, with roots in Eastern Europe.

Now here is something surprising. Her exact birth date was never made public. Not her age either. For a woman connected to a famous actor for decades, that is unusual.

We also know almost nothing about her parents or her brothers and sisters. No names. No stories. That gap is not an accident.

It tells you something real about her. Noel J. Mickelson chose privacy, and she kept that choice her whole life.

Her College Years at Colorado State University

Noel went to Colorado State University. She studied fine arts there.

That detail matters more than it looks. Art was not a hobby she picked up later. It was what she chose to study as a young woman. It shaped the rest of her life.

She spent her years there learning to make things. To draw, to shape, to create. That skill would later pass straight to her two children.

And it was on that same campus that everything changed for her.

How Noel Mickelson Met John Amos

John Amos was at Colorado State too. He was studying sociology and playing football.

Their daughter Shannon has described the meeting in simple words. It was “love at first sight.”

On paper, they looked like an unlikely pair. Noel’s family roots were Danish and Ashkenazi Jewish, reaching back to Eastern Europe. John’s ancestors were Ghanaian. Different backgrounds, different histories.

But none of that seemed to slow them down. What started as a spark grew into something much stronger.

The problem was never between the two of them. The problem was the country they lived in.

Their Marriage in 1965

Noel J. Mickelson and John Amos married in 1965.

Think about what that year looked like in America. The civil rights movement was at full strength. Black Americans were fighting segregation and open discrimination every single day.

And interracial marriage? It was still banned in about 16 states at that time. Not frowned upon. Banned by law.

Let’s be clear and fair here, because some websites get this wrong. Colorado had already dropped its ban, so their marriage was legal where they were. They did not break any law. But they married into a country that was still split down the middle on the question.

Two years later, in 1967, the Supreme Court settled it. The Loving v. Virginia decision made interracial marriage legal in every state. What John and Noel had already built was now protected everywhere.

Noel J. Mickelson’s Work: Artist and Equestrian

So what did Noel actually do with her life? This is where the record gets a bit messy, and it is worth being upfront about that.

The most consistent picture is this. Noel J. Mickelson was an artist, a craftswoman, and an equestrian. In plain words: she made things, she worked with her hands, and she rode horses.

Some sources also call her a carpenter. Others go further and describe her as an architect and an environmentalist. Those last two labels only show up in weaker online profiles, with no proof behind them. So treat them lightly.

One thing does come through clearly in what her family says. She had a deep love and respect for nature. That was not a side note. It ran through her art and her life with horses.

Here is the honest truth. No gallery lists her work. No records show her horse competitions. Her career was real, but it was never documented for the public.

Her Two Children: Shannon and K.C. Amos

Shannon Amos was born in 1966, a year before the Supreme Court ruling. She works mostly behind the camera. She has written and produced for big names like BET and MTV. She also founded her own company, Afterglow Multimedia LLC.

Kelly Christopher Amos came next, in 1970. Everyone calls him K.C. He is a director, producer, and video editor. His credits include The Watermelon Heist, Tamales and Gumbo, and Hauntsville.

Notice the pattern? Both children build things. Both tell stories for a living.

Their father was the famous actor. But when Shannon and K.C. talk about where their creativity came from, they point somewhere else.

The Mother Who Taught Her Kids to Create

Shannon has said plainly that her mother gave her and her brother the ability to express themselves through creativity. Not their dad. Their mom.

K.C. still shares throwback photos of her on Instagram. Old pictures, small memories, quiet moments. He calls her Noni in those posts, the same way he did as a kid.

He has also shared a small detail that says a lot. Dinner was on the table by 6:00 p.m. Every day. Her home had structure.

She raised them close to nature, too. That love of the outdoors was something she handed down, not just something she kept for herself.

For a woman with almost no public record, that is a real legacy. Two working creatives who still credit her.

The End of the Marriage in 1975

John Amos and Noel J. Mickelson divorced in 1975. Ten years of marriage, done.

The reasons were never made public. Both of them kept quiet about it, then and later.

The timing is interesting, though. A year after the divorce, in 1976, John was let go from Good Times. He had been clashing with the show’s writers, and his character James Evans Sr. was killed off. It was a rough stretch for him.

John married again later, to actress Lillian Lehman. They kept the wedding quiet. By 1979, they had separated.

And Noel? She went the other way. She stepped fully out of the spotlight and stayed there for the rest of her life.

Noel J. Mickelson’s Death and Her Final Wish

Noel died in December 2016. Her family was around her.

In those last moments, she said something that stuck with her daughter. She regretted that she never got to travel and see the world.

Shannon made a promise on the spot. She would take her mother’s ashes around the globe. Her mom would see the world after all.

She started in January 2017, just weeks later.

Think about that for a second. A woman who spent her life out of view. And her final wish was simply to see more of the world she loved.

Why So Little Is Known About Her

Let’s answer the question that brought many readers here. Why is there so little about Noel J. Mickelson online?

The simple answer is that she never wanted attention. No interviews. No red carpets. No public statements. Not in 1975, not in 2016.

There is no official birth date on record. No confirmed age. No biography. Not even a widely shared obituary.

Almost everything the public knows comes from Instagram posts by Shannon and K.C. Their memories are the main source. That is unusual, and it is worth knowing.

It also means some websites get things wrong. Many “wiki” and “net worth” pages about her are padded with her ex-husband’s filmography and body measurements. Some contain flat errors, like calling K.C. a Grammy nominee or getting John’s Emmy history mixed up. He was nominated for Roots, not a winner.

So here is the takeaway. Her privacy was a choice, not an accident. Almost nine years after her death, it has held.

Bottom Line

Noel J. Mickelson will always show up in search results as “John Amos’ ex-wife.” That is how the internet works.

But the fuller picture is better. She was an art student in Colorado. A woman who rode horses and worked with her hands. Someone who loved nature and passed that on. A mother who kept dinner at six and raised two kids who still credit her for their creativity.

She married for love in 1965, when the country was still arguing about whether people like her and John should be allowed to. She did not wait for the law to catch up.

The record on her is thin, and we have been honest about that throughout. But thin is not the same as empty.

(FAQs)

When did Noel J. Mickelson and John Amos get married?

They married in 1965 and divorced in 1975, after ten years together.

Was their marriage illegal?

No. About 16 states banned interracial marriage in 1965, but Colorado was not one of them. Their marriage was legal. In 1967, Loving v. Virginia made it legal nationwide.

How many children did Noel J. Mickelson have?

Two. Shannon Amos, born 1966, a writer and producer. And K.C. Amos, born 1970, a director and editor.

When did Noel J. Mickelson die?

She died in December 2016, with her family beside her.

How old was Noel J. Mickelson?

Her birth date was never made public, so her exact age is unknown.

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