Born on September 25, 1948 in Prescott, Arizona, Noonan attended Santa Barbara City College before serving four years in the United States Army.

[citation needed] They have a son, E. Justin Noonan, who was a candidate for California State Treasurer in 2006.

E. Justin Noonan became the American Independent Nominee and received 93,281 votes, just over 1% of the total.

[citation needed] Noonan was the winner of the 2002 AIP Primary for secretary of state of California,[1] receiving 85,791 votes (1.2%).

Although he filed to run for California's 2nd congressional district in 2008, he did not receive enough signatures to qualify for the ballot.