String field to a memo field is not working

When I run the function below I am reading several records and combining note_text into catnote2.
If catnote2 has a note with 400 characters in it then when I put it in a query it shows up as only having 255 characters.  I know a text field has a default length of 255 but I would rather drop it into a memo field that has the ability to have more than the 255.    How do I format the sql query to allow for the memo field instead of the text field.  If there is a better way I am open for that also.

Here is the SQL query I am running. I have the cat_note2 module under it.  

SELECT tbl_cat_detail_notes.[CUST ID], tbl_cat_detail_notes.[Cust Name], tbl_cat_detail_notes.noteindex, formatMemo(cat_note2([noteindex])) AS Notes_total
FROM tbl_cat_detail_notes
GROUP BY tbl_cat_detail_notes.[CUST ID], tbl_cat_detail_notes.[Cust Name], tbl_cat_detail_notes.noteindex, cat_note2([noteindex]);


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Function cat_note2(the_index As String) As String
Dim db As dao.Database
Dim rs As dao.Recordset
Dim strsql As String
Dim string_note As String
strsql = "select ([NOTE_TEXT]) AS Notes from tbl_CAT_Detail_Notes where noteindex = '" & the_index & "' order by detailnoteindex;"
Set db = CurrentDb()
Set rs = db.OpenRecordset(strsql)
rs.MoveFirst
Do While Not rs.EOF
If string_note = "" Then
string_note = Trim(Right(rs!Notes, 76))
MsgBox string_note
Else
string_note = string_note & " " & Trim(Right(rs!Notes, 76))
MsgBox string_note
End If
rs.MoveNext
Loop

cat_note2 = (string_note)

End Function