Florence Natelson

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.