[nscumber] Obituary (2019) - Florence Odessa Nateleson (nee Ackles)

[David Winter <nscumber@yahoogroups.com>]

Posting for Gerry in case it's never been posted.

  

From:  Gerry Mattinson  
Date:  Thursday, May 21, 2020 at 12:19 PM  
To:  David Winter <[.com](mailto:.com)>  
Subject:  Obituary (2019) - Florence Odessa Nateleson (nee Ackles)  

  

Hi Dave,

  

Now that Yahoo does not keep messages in archives anymore, I don't know if
this Parrsboro obituary has been posted or not.

  

  
Florence A. Natelson of Kalispell passed away on Aug. 27, 2019, of natural
causes. She was 101.  
  
Long before moving to Kalispell with her husband Dr. Sydney Natelson, Florence
became a prominent community leader.  
  
She was born Florence Odessa Ackles on July 9, 1918, in Parrsboro, Nova
Scotia, to Gordon Everett Ackles and Jesse Hilda Taggart Ackles. She was an
only child. Seeking economic opportunity, her family soon moved to Concord,
Massachusetts. Florence was raised principally in Concord, where she absorbed
that town's famous literary tradition. She compiled an excellent scholastic
record, and was promoted two grades. She graduated from high school at age 15.  
  
The family then moved to Waltham, Massachusetts, where Florence was working as
a dental nurse when she met her future husband, then a medical student. They
were married in 1943, the same year Florence became a U.S. citizen. The
marriage was an exceedingly happy one, and lasted until Dr. Natelson's death
in 2007.  
  
After internships in New York City, Dr. Natelson established a medical
practice in Yonkers, New York. Florence served as the office nurse and
manager. She also gave birth to the couple's two children, Robert and Richard.
However, Florence and her husband sought a more rural environment, and in 1954
moved their home and medical practice to the Hudson Valley community of Stony
Point, New York, then a small agricultural town with a Revolutionary War
heritage. They worked together as medical professionals until retiring in
1987. It was a general, family-oriented practice that served mostly patients
of modest means.  
  
Florence became a local celebrity, partly for her glamour -- she modeled for
fashion shows to raise money for charitable causes --but also for leadership
ability. She served as president of a medical auxiliary organization and
president of the local Parent-Teachers Association. She assumed leadership
positions in several other organizations as well, including the Boy Scouts.
But she steadfastly declined offers to run for political office.  
  
Despite her civic activity, she remained a very involved mother to her two
boys.  
  
After retirement, Florence and her husband lived initially in the hill country
of rural New Jersey, but finally moved to Kalispell, where she enjoyed
"grandmothering" and playing ferocious games of bridge. Surviving Florence are
her two sons, Robert G. Natelson of Lakewood Colorado, formerly a University
of Montana law professor and prominent Montana political figure, and now a
nationally-recognized constitutional scholar; and Dr. Richard M. Natelson, an
obstetrician/gynecologist whose offices were formerly in the Flathead Valley
but are now in Salmon, Idaho. Also surviving are five grandchildren, Rebecca
Natelson Chertudi and Deborah J. Natelson, both of Columbia Falls; Sarah J.
Romano of Golden, Colorado; Colton S. Natelson of Denver; and Hannah G.
Natelson of Salmon, Idaho. Florence left two great-grandchildren, Charlotte
and Elise Chertudi, of Columbia Falls.  
  
Bigfork Eagle (MT) - Wednesday, September 18, 2019

  

And her husband:

  

Sydney Natelson, who in an extraordinary career as a country doctor saved
countless lives, died of old age Aug. 21, 2007, in Kalispell.  
  
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., to impoverished immigrant parents, he was the 11th of
13 children, 10 of whom lived to adulthood. It was a talented family. Among
the brothers were Morris Natelson, later a highly prominent Wall Street
investment banker, and Dr. Samuel Natelson, who became an internationally
known scientist and inventor of medical technology.  
  
While a young man, Sydney earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics from the
City College of New York and a master's degree in mathematics from New York
University. He worked both in retailing and as a high-school teacher. During
World War II, he volunteered for military service four times, to three
different branches of the service, but was rejected each time because of a leg
injury received in childhood.  
  
Eventually, Sydney's extended family scraped up enough money to send him to a
medical school in Waltham, Mass., that is now part of the campus of Brandeis
University. Upon graduation from medical school, he ranked first in his class.  
  
It was in medical school also that he met his future wife, Florence Ackles,
then working as a nurse. They married Dec. 26, 1943.  
  
After serving residencies in New York City, the now-Dr. Natelson practiced
briefly in Yonkers, N.Y., and then settled down to a general practice in the
Hudson Valley town of Stony Point, N.Y. Stony Point was then a sleepy farming
community where people grew apples, corn, cattle and poultry, and where people
assessed their importance by how many generations their ancestors had lived
there. Initially the town's only physician, Dr. Natelson he embarked upon a
stunning medical career that continued until 1990.  
  
His reputation spread quickly beyond Stony Point to the surrounding area. He
was particularly respected among his peers as a diagnostician. He was
prominent among physicians at the Nyack Hospital in Nyack, N.Y., served part-
time as Stony Point health officer, and was one of the first physicians in the
nation to earn a diploma in family practice when that field become a
recognized medical specialty.  
  
More importantly, he was a dedicated, people-oriented family doctor who did
not protect himself from patients, but interacted with them. Throughout his
career, he fixed his schedule by the needs of the patients. His family often
woke in the morning to find that he had been gone all night, delivering a baby
or caring for a very ill patient. He served in a variety of community-service
positions, and provided extensive no-cost and low-cost care for the poor. He
never charged a fellow physician, and he never charged a member of the clergy
of any denomination. He continued to make house calls until retirement in
1990.  
  
The number of lives he saved is estimated to be in the thousands. He strongly
believed in a "hands-on" approach to health care. While he embraced advances
in medical technology, he was also convinced that some modern physicians were
using technology as a substitute for interacting with their patients. He
firmly believed that the growing intrusion of third-party payers - government
and insurance companies - into medical practice was driving up costs and
damaging the welfare of patients.  
  
Dr. Natelson's life was not all medicine. He was a dedicated family man, an
enthusiastic, though generally unlucky, fisherman, and a member of several
Jewish congregations during the course of his lifetime. He loved the woods,
and spent time there when he could. As a young man, he played baseball in
organized leagues in New York City. He also was a fan first of the Brooklyn
Dodgers, and later of the New York Mets.  
  
After retirement in 1990, Dr. Natelson and his wife moved first to rural New
Jersey and in 2000 to Kalispell. Shortly after the move to Kalispell, however,
Dr. Natelson was incapacitated by a series of transitory ischemic attacks
(TIAs), and moved to a nursing home, where he died nearly seven years later.  
  
Besides his widow, Florence Ackles Natelson, of Kalispell, he leaves surviving
him his elder son, Rob Natelson, of Missoula, a law professor at the
University of Montana and runner-up in the 2000 primary election for governor
of Montana; Rob's wife, Betty; and their children, Rebecca, Deborah, and
Sarah; and a younger son, Dr. Richard Natelson, an obstetrician and
gynecologist in Salmon, Idaho; Richard's wife, Holly; and their children,
Colton and Hannah.  
  
Daily Inter Lake (Kalispell, MT) - Monday, August 27, 2007

  

Gerry