Former Corpus Christi Councilman David Noyola Who Fought To Rename Convention Center “Selena Auditorium” Passes Away

CORPUS CHRISTI, TX. (THECOUNT) — Former Corpus Christi city councilman, David Noyola, has passed away Thursday. He was 61.

Noyola, a longtime community leader from a famously civic-minded family, died Thursday following a long illness, reports caller.

Then a city councilman, Noyola demanded the city act immediately by renaming the convention center in Selena’s name following the Tejano singer’s murder in 1995.

“I think we need to move fast on this and try to relieve that sadness in the community,” said Noyola, who knew Selena and lived about seven blocks away from her. “If we wait, that will be another committee and another time to come up with another solution.”

The Selena Auditorium opened in 1979, then known as the Bayfront Plaza Auditorium.

Noyola lived just blocks away from Selena and hailed from a family of community pillars. His brother Danny was a longtime administrator in the West Oso and Corpus Christi independent school districts. Another brother, Jesse, also served as city councilman.

Noyola was also a Nueces County commissioner and a popular radio talk show host.

He helped to establish Molina Veterans Park as a memorial to service members from the city’s Molina neighborhood who were killed in the Vietnam War.

Geo quick facts: Corpus Christi is a Texas city on the Gulf of Mexico. It’s tucked into a bay and its beaches are sheltered by Padre and Mustang islands. The Padre Island National Seashore is home to migratory birds and endangered Kemp’s ridley sea turtles. The harborfront Texas State Aquarium has touch pools, an aquatic nursery and a shark exhibit. Nearby, a WWII aircraft carrier, USS Lexington, now houses a naval aviation museum – wikipedia.